tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16298085285608532672018-12-20T17:38:58.877-08:00Challenging FaithChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-76214266530322172262018-12-20T17:38:00.000-08:002018-12-20T17:38:58.831-08:00Keep Christ in Christmas<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container"><tbody><tr><td style="background-position: -220px -150px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background: url(&quot;https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3EuvKThGwhY/XBw-zXBXCKI/AAAAAAAAAKY/qDm1IUsXpf8Ju6jpS7uN9v59vMULKP_tQCLcBGAs/s1600/article_Keep_Christ_in_Christmas_header01.jpg&quot;); height: 300px; min-width: 705px; width: 100%;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3EuvKThGwhY/XBw-zXBXCKI/AAAAAAAAAKY/qDm1IUsXpf8Ju6jpS7uN9v59vMULKP_tQCLcBGAs/s1600/article_Keep_Christ_in_Christmas_header01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3EuvKThGwhY/XBw-zXBXCKI/AAAAAAAAAKY/qDm1IUsXpf8Ju6jpS7uN9v59vMULKP_tQCLcBGAs/s1600/article_Keep_Christ_in_Christmas_header01.jpg" style="height: 100%; opacity: 0; width: 100%;" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="background-color: black; text-align: center;">Image source: <a href="https://www.napoliunplugged.com/naples-christmas-alley-via-san-gregorio-armeno.html" target="_blank">Napoli Unplugged</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Back in 2015 when Starbucks decided to make plain red cups for Christmas, many Christians were enraged. They believed that Starbucks changed the cups because it hated Jesus. This further exacerbated the belief some Christians have that the world is plotting to take Christ out of Christmas. The mantra, “Keep Christ in Christmas” has been around even before Starbucks’ plain red cup. And the way to “Keep Christ in Christmas” for many Christians seems to be insisting on saying “Merry Christmas,” and resisting the use of “Merry Xmas” and “Happy Holiday.” But here’s the question, would we really lose Christmas to the secular world by writing “Merry Xmas” and saying “Happy Holiday,” instead of “Merry Christmas”?<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WSr_pRYUF8E/XBxAS6dIGxI/AAAAAAAAAKk/cSuz__Qd1hMN3DwVP6izBvZtbBOwXqQ1wCLcBGAs/s1600/article_Keep_Christ_in_Christmas_Chi_Rho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WSr_pRYUF8E/XBxAS6dIGxI/AAAAAAAAAKk/cSuz__Qd1hMN3DwVP6izBvZtbBOwXqQ1wCLcBGAs/s1600/article_Keep_Christ_in_Christmas_Chi_Rho.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho" target="_blank">Chi-Rho on a 4th-century<br /> altar, Khirbet Um El’Amad, Algeria</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>“Xmas” and “Holiday”</b><br />First, technically speaking, both “Xmas” and “Holiday” are not any less Christian than the word “Christmas”. The “X” in Xmas is actually a symbol often used in ancient Rome to refer to Christ or the Christians, both because “X” is the first letter in the Greek word “Χριστός,” which means exactly “Christ” in Greek, and because “X” reminds the ancient Roman Christians of the cross. Whereas, the word “Holiday” comes from the old English word “hāligdæg.” It is a compound word of “hālig” means holy, and “dæg” means day. And it referred to religious, usually Christian, commemorations.<br /><br /><b>Starbucks</b><br />Second, Jesus or any other biblical symbols has never been used on the Starbucks Christmas/Holiday cups in the first place. It has always been reindeer, snowman, ornaments, snowflakes and drawings of happy looking people on their cups. These symbols have nothing to do with Jesus and his birthday. If Christmas is lost to anything, it is lost to American’s commercialism that commercialized Christmas. Christmas has become this huge shopping season, when people are expecting luxurious gifts, beautiful Christmas trees and dazzling decorations everywhere. If anything, it is American’s commercialized Christmas that Starbucks cups reflect.<br /><br />In addition, Starbucks has never claimed to be a Christian company. Why do we lay upon Starbucks or any secular corporate and individuals the burden of keeping Christ in Christmas?<br /><br /><b>Keep Christ in Christmas</b><br />It is and has always been the Christians’ responsibility to keep Christ in Christmas. And doing it by insist on saying “Merry Christmas” is simply not enough, and not good enough. There is in fact a lot more that we can do to make sure Christ will remain in the center of Christmas. For a starter, we as Christians are to be like Christ in this Christmas season. Christ should be kept in Christmas through our words and deeds.<br /><br />In this Christmas season, let us be mindful of Jesus’ teachings, such as the greatest commandments, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39). Except for all the gifts that we are buying for our loved ones, are there people around us that are in need? Christmas is a good time to give and to care for others in the name of Christ. Furthermore, instead of demanding people of different cultural and religious backgrounds to observe the holiday the way Christians would, let us show love and respect, and most importantly, pray for the ones you disagree with, just as Jesus taught in Matthew 5:43-48.<br /><br />There are so many more wonderful teachings of Jesus in the Bible, and I trust that you know your Bible, so I will not name them all here. But I think we are off to a great start if we could just do these two teachings of Jesus this Christmas season. The birth of Jesus provided a means for God and sinners to reconcile, and that’s why it is indeed a joy to the world. Let’s make sure that the world will perceive the good and joy of this news through our representation of our Lord.<br /><br />Merry Xmas and Happy Holiday to you and your loved ones! ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-72757964750172288142017-03-11T01:22:00.001-08:002017-03-14T16:21:37.761-07:00The ( ) and ( ) ServantThe sermon I preached on Feb. 19th, 2017. The topic is "The (&nbsp; ) and (&nbsp; ) Servant," from Matthew 25:14-30 The Parable of the Bags of Gold. Click <a onclick="myFunction()" style="color: #990000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;">here</a> to listen. <script>function myFunction() { window.open('http://www.prophet-media.com/challengingfaith/sermon/20170219/','window','toolbar=no, menubar=no, location=0, resizable=yes'); } </script><br /><br />Sermon Transcript:<br /><br /><b>The Parable of the Bags of Gold (Matthew 25:14-30)</b><br /><br />In the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, Jesus tells the parable of a man, before he went on a journey, he entrusted each of his three servants some money. And he went on his journey. While the man was away, two of the three servants doubled the money by making some business investments; the third servant, however, went and dug a hole in the ground to hide the money. When the man has finally returned from his journey, it came the time for him to settle the account with his servants.<br /><br />The man was very pleased with the first two servants, he said to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (25:21, NIV). The third servant, however, said to the man, “Master, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” (25:24-25).<br /><br />The man was very upset with the third servant, and he replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest” (25:26-27). So the man ordered the money, which was entrusted the third servant, to be taken from him, and to have him fired.<br /><br />Begins from Matthew 24, Jesus was telling his disciples about the end of the age that would one day come. The end of the age will be an extremely chaotic time, but the good news is that it would also be the time when the earth will finally reunite with heaven. But we must keep watching. Because when that day comes, we will meet God face to face. And there will come a time for us to settle our account with Him. Therefore, in chapter 25, Jesus was talking in parables about, as His followers, how we should conduct ourselves as we slowly approaching the end of the age. The man in the parable is our Lord Jesus, and the servants are us. And our Master, Jesus, just like the man in the parable, though is currently away, He is coming back. This brings us to the question then, on that day when we are seeing Jesus face to face, when it comes the time to settle our account with Him, if it happens tonight or tomorrow, what do you think Jesus is going to call us? “Good and faithful servant” or “Wicked and lazy servant?”<br /><br />Jesus told the Parable of the Bags of Gold to help us get prepared for that day, when we are to settle our accounts with him. To help us getting prepared for the day, I’d like to, first, identify the resources that God has entrusted us, as the man in the parable has entrusted his servants the money. Second, I’d like to identify the traits of the wicked and lazy servant as portrait in Jesus’ parable. And finally, I’d like to propose some practical ways that we may facilitate the resources that God has entrusted us.<br /><br /><b>What Have We Received from God?</b><br /><br />From the Bible, I summarized 3 types of material and immaterial resources in general that we have received from God. First, we are all given the gift of grace. If you are a Christian, you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8). Jesus is the grace upon grace that God gave the world (John 1:16). Grace is God’s perfect gift that He gives freely to the mankind, because He knows that we could never save ourselves (Romans 11:6).<br /><br />Second, we are each given a different set of gifts, talents and spiritual gifts. For example, in Exodus 35, when the Israelites were building the tabernacle and the ark, God equipped them with different skills and knowledge so that they may do the work just as God commanded (Exodus 35:35 &amp; 36:1). When Paul talks about Spiritual Gift, he says that we are each given a different set of spiritual gifts so that we may help each other (1 Corinthians 12:7-11 &amp; Romans 12:6-8). Similarly, when talking about talents and gifts, Peter also commands us to use our God given talents and gifts to serve others (1 Peter 4:10).<br /><br />Finally, we have also received material blessings and resources from God. This is particularly clear in the Old Testament. People of the Old Testament’s time understood that despite their hard work, all their earnings are ultimately gifts from God. Thus, we see the practice of tithe, the offerings and the festivals in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Jesus tells us not to worry, because if God would feed the birds, how much more valuable we are to Him (Matthew 6:25-34). At the same time, Jesus also teaches us to use these material blessings and resources for the heavenly purpose (Luke 16:1-9).<br /><br />All in all, God has poured grace, talents, spiritual gifts and resources lavishly on us. These gifts are, however, not just for our own benefits. Since we have gladly received these gifts from God, we will also be held accountable for how we use these gifts and resources. Are we gonna be like the good and faithful servants, who doubled what their master entrusted them, or are we gonna be like the wicked and lazy servant, who let what his master entrusted him sat idly?<br /><br />Now, some may argue that the third servant did return exactly what was entrusted him, not a penny more, not a penny less, so that his master was wrong to be so angry at him. But let’s not take things at face value. Let’s take a closer look at the 3 traits of the wicked and lazy servant:<br /><br /><b>Trait #1 Gracelessness</b><br /><br />One major mistake that the third servant in the Parable of the Talents made is that he thought of his master as a hard man, who “harvesting where he has not sown and gathering where he has not scattered seeds.” This is one of the areas that, as Christians, we need to constantly exam ourselves – when we do ministry or serve others, are we doing it out of the guilty, dutiful feeling, or do we serve from a grateful heart for what we have gladly received from God, and from the desire to share that grace we received? How often are we tempted to just call people sinners, rather than doing the difficult work of getting to know them? And how often are we tempted to just quote Bible verses at the ones confide in us, rather than really spend the time to listen to them?<br /><br />The author of Hebrews speaks of Jesus, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are…” (Hebrews 4:15). One of the purposes of “the Word became flesh” is that our Lord/High Priest may have empathy for us, so much so that he even identified himself as one of us, hence his favorite title for himself – Son of Man. When He was talking with the woman by the well, you don’t see Jesus calling the woman out as an adulterer, but you see how the woman changed when she was embraced by Jesus, and when Jesus spoke to her heart. Jesus took the time to care, and the sinless Son of God stretched himself to meet people where they are. We are without excuse for not doing more than just fulfilling our “Christian duty.”<br /><br /><b>Trait #2 Sidelining</b><br /><br />In the Parable of the Talents, when the man was distributing money before he went on the journey, “To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag...” (25:15‬). I imagine that when receiving the entrusted money from his master, the third servant must be thinking – “I'm not as smart as the first servant who received 5 bags of gold; and I'm not as talented as the second servant who received 2 bags of gold; I'm not good at anything, and that's why master only gave me 1 bag of gold.” “Because I'm not good at anything, doing nothing's better than doing something.” This is the corrupted and lazy thinking of the third servant. Sometimes, we can have quite the same mindset as the third servant.<br /><br />A common misconception among many Christians is the belief that ministries belong only to the deep theological thinkers, and those who pray so spiritually. However, teaching or leading Bible study is not the only form of ministry. In the Matthew 25 parable, Jesus makes it clear that the servants were given different amount of money “each according to his ability” (25:15). Contrary to what the third servant in the parable believed about himself, “each according to his ability” implies that he did have some abilities.<br /><br />The reality is that not everyone has the same degree of faith, and we all have different weaknesses and strengths, but we are all each given a different set of talents and spiritual gifts. As servants of God, we are responsible for discovering and facilitating our talents and spiritual gifts for the building of the Body. We’d be making the same mistake as the third servant, if we leave our God given gifts laying waste as we sit there thinking that ministries belong only to the “spiritual” few.<br /><br />Ministry is an essential part of a Christian’s spiritual growth. It’s often in ministry we learn more about ourselves – what are my strengths, what are my shortcomings, what’s the state of my faith, how well am I being a doer of the Word, and how am I doing relationally. If we learn the Word without practicing it, it’s like having only lectures for PE classes without real exercises. At the same time, in what ministry capacity we serve has a lot to do with our talents and spiritual gifts, and these God given gifts sometimes change with time.<br /><br />For example, because I studied in Audio Production for undergrad, I began serving in my church in Taiwan as the A/V technician. Later, because of my work as a website programmer, I served the church by developing its web applications. After getting to know the people at the church better, I began to serve by outreaching to the high school exchange students from the Europe at our church with my friend Karen. These young students were not Christians, but they came to my church in Taiwan, because it was an American church, and the Caucasians attending the church reminded them of home. There wasn't a youth outreach ministry at church, but Karen and I knew what it feels to be strangers in a foreign country; we saw the needs, so we made it our ministry. Through the outreaching experience, I discovered my spiritual gifts in teaching and discernment. And it was that discovery that brought me here in California to study in the seminary. As you can see that what I do as ministries change over time, but they always have something to do with my talents and gifts at the moment. And the more I served, the more I learned about my talents and spiritual gifts. So I was able to adjust myself, to serve more in sync with God.<br /><br />At any rate, it’s important to note that we should refrain from comparing ministries. Often times in churches, people tend to see teaching ministries as the most respectable and the holiest ministries, and all the other ministries as non-essential and not as spiritual. But Acts 6 tells us that, after Jesus’ ascension, and the 12 apostles are now the leaders of the people, at some point, they became overwhelmed by the daily functioning of the church, such as food distribution. So they decided to choose seven disciples from among the congregation to serve the table. The scripture tells us that the seven they chose were all of “good reputation, full of spirit and of wisdom” (Acts 6:3). So do not judge a brother/sister’s spiritual maturity base on his/her ministry. Don’t be limited by what people render as more spiritual or less spiritual. The seven in Acts 6 were not less spiritual than the twelve apostles, they were just given different resources and tasks. We have to remember, the purpose of our gifts is to build up the Body of Christ, whether it’s through teaching, praying or serving at the table.<br /><br /><b>Trait #3 Tithe is Tithed</b><br /><br />When the man in the Parable of the Talents was settling the account with the third servant, with fear and trembling the third servant said to him, “Master, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” In other words, the third servant is saying that “because I’m so scared of you that I don’t want to come up short, so I hid the money. Look, here’s your money back. Not a penny more, not a penny less. See, I owe you nothing.” This is one of the other area that, as Christians, we need to exam ourselves constantly – do we tithe with much the same attitude? “See, God, the Bible tells me to give tenth of my income, so here it is, now my account is settled for this month. I don’t owe you anything!”<br /><br />What exactly is tithing? In the Bible, tithe includes the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, or even the fat of the animals. Though the seed of the land, the fruit of the tree, and the fat of the animals are the results of the hard work of the farmers and the shepherds, but they acknowledged that no matter how hard they work, if God had not allowed, the land would not produce seeds, the trees would bear fruit, and animals would not grow fat. It has always been God’s good intention that we shall enjoy the fruit of our hard work, but if God had not allowed, we would not have the opportunity to do what we are doing, or the health to thrive. What the third servant had failed to see is the privilege that he was given by his master.<br /><br />As we can see, tithe is an act of acknowledgment of God’s gracious giving, and a response to God’s love for his people (Deuteronomy 26:13). Because tithe is the acknowledgment of God’s gracious giving, so tithe was the giving back of what was from God. If tithe is the giving back of what was from God, then, why is it limited only to monetary giving? God has given us more than the monetary blessings. Especially for the people in Orange County – not to guilt trip you, but I do believe that we are given a lot more material advantages than many others in other parts of the world. There’s so much we can do with the material resources that God entrusted us for the Great Commission.<br /><br /><b>What can We Do to Multiply What God Entrusted Us?</b><br /><br />So now we have identified the material and immaterial resources that we have received from God. What can we do to facilitate them? Especially with grace, how do we facilitate grace? How do we put grace into work?<br /><br /><b>Grace</b><br /><br />Well, first of all, grace should be the foundation of everything, just like rice is to the Chinese people. All the other things – your gifts, talents, the programs, and the logistics are the dishes. If you can’t go a meal without rice, then you shouldn’t go about ministry without grace. Grace should be the fuel that moves us (1 John 4:19). Grace should be the attitude we treat each other (Ephesians 4:2), the heart of our ministry (John 13:35), and the salt in our conversation (Colossians 4:6 &amp; 1 Peter 3:15).<br /><br />C.S. Lewis, in his essay "The Weight of Glory," writes "If you asked twenty good men today what they thought [is] the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love...The negative idea of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love." Do you know that how we go about ministry reflects how we see God? Do you see God as a hard man, who “harvests where he has not sown and gathers where he has not scattered seeds,” or is He like the loving Father in the parable of The Prodigal Son, waiting eagerly for his children to come home to him?<br /><br /><b>Talents, Gifts and Spiritual Gifts</b><br /><br />What are your talents and gifts? What are some of the things that you are good at? Like with our worship team, for those who are good at music, whether it’s piano, guitar or singing, they serve by facilitating their music talents. For those who think that they are not good at anything, well, at the very least, they do speak English. A friend of mine works for a church that outreaches to USC international students. And English conversation is a very important part of their outreach ministry. Each semester, it brings 40 to 50 international students to church. If we wanna see our church grow, we’ve got to ask ourselves the question – have I done my part?<br /><br />And what are your Spiritual Gifts? I think these are the gifts that are often neglected. For many like me, who became Christian later in life, it’s easier to discover our talents, because they’ve been there all through our lives. But Spiritual Gifts are something that only comes after we’ve received Christ into our lives. And the purpose of Spiritual Gifts is solely for the benefit of the others. It’s for the building up of the Body. Here is a list of Spiritual Gifts as listed in the Bible:<br /><br /><table border="0" style="width: 95%px;"><tbody><tr><td width="20%"><b>Romans 12</b></td><td width="20%"><b>1 Corinthians 12:8-10</b></td><td width="20%"><b>1 Corinthians 12:28</b></td><td width="20%"><b>Ephesians 4</b></td><td width="20%"><b>1 Peter 4</b></td></tr><tr><td>Prophecy</td><td>Word of wisdom</td><td>Apostles</td><td>Apostles</td><td>Anyone speaks</td></tr><tr><td>Serving</td><td>Word of knowledge</td><td>Prophets</td><td>Prophets</td><td>Anyone serves</td></tr><tr><td>Teaching</td><td>Faith</td><td>Teachers</td><td>Evangelists</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Encouragement</td><td>Healing</td><td>Miracles</td><td>Pastors</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Giving</td><td>Miracles</td><td>Healings</td><td>Teachers</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Leadership</td><td>Prophecy</td><td>Helps</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Mercy</td><td>Distinguishing between spirits</td><td>Administration</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Tongues</td><td>Tongues</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Interpretation of tongues</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><ul><li>“Distinguishing between spirits” in 1 Cor. 12:8-10 is sometimes called the gift of “discernment.” It’s the ability of sensing what is from God, and what is not.</li><li>“Apostles” in 1 Cor. 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11 are those who bring the gospel to the world, and plant churches.</li><li>The gift of speaking in “tongues” doesn’t necessarily have to be the “tongues” in the charismatic sense. If a missionary can quickly pick up the language of the nation he/she is ministering to, I’d say he/she has the gift of speak in tongues as well. Because “tongue” in the original biblical language could be both simply a language and an angelic language.</li></ul><br />You could learn about your unique set of Spiritual Gifts through either observation – What comes natural to you, and what do people say that you are good at; or through Spiritual Gift assessment tools, which can be found online.<br /><br /><b>Material Resources</b><br /><br />Like I mentioned earlier, there’s so much we can do with the material resources that God entrusted us for the Great Commission, such as with our cars, even our tv screens, or BBQ grills. For those who are good at driving, I highly recommend that they participate in our UCI student airport pickup ministry. It’s a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate the Bible’s teaching about love.<br /><br />Throughout the entire Bible, eating together has been a repetitive theme. Like in the Old Testament, we see Abraham preparing a feast for the angels. And in the New Testament, we see how much Jesus loved dinner parties at people’s houses. That’s because the theme of eating together in someone's house carries meanings of special importance. Easting together signifies relationship, whether it’s between God and the people, or between individuals. Therefore, I’d also like to encourage us to open up our houses for the church, whether it’s to host a small group gathering, or for the outreach purposes. Similarly, for those who have BBQ grills and nice big tv screens at home, well, even these can be facilitated for a neighborhood outreach.<br /><br />Many at our church have, in fact, modeled that for us. Like last month, for Chinese New Year’s Eve, though it’s usually the time for people to chill at home with their own family, Steve and Grace opened up their home for a Chinese student dumpling party. And it spoke louder than words the meaning of being God’s family. And then in the beginning of this month, we’ve just had a fun evening watching Super Bowl at Ruby's house, and we were so blessed by the good cooks from church that they made wonderful and abundant food. Like Steve and Mimi, they’ve also opened up their home for international students for countless times, and I’m among those who are blessed by their hospitality. And I’ve also heard stories of someone, who would just invite neighbors he didn’t know over for a movie night and BBQ outreach. I know that many at our church have, in fact, been doing this for a long time, but I’d just like to take this opportunity to invite those who haven’t to join in. Because all these are the most direct manifestation of Jesus' teaching “Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself” (22:37-40).<br /><br /><b>Conclusion</b><br /><br />What other needs do you see in our church? What other resources do we have in our church, whether material or immaterial resources? Can you think of any creative ways to facilitate them for ministry? Just remember, ministry is just a fancy Christian word for serving. And to serve others is a call that Jesus gave to every one of His followers. When that day comes, I hope it’ll be the sweet sound of our Master saying to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share my happiness.”ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-661425358099338432016-02-02T19:52:00.000-08:002016-02-02T20:07:45.477-08:00A Bad News and A Good News in Matthew 5<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mrMjuYV3zik/VrF7OFF8sQI/AAAAAAAAAIY/Hh7RuxMpDRw/s1600/article_bad_news_good_news02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mrMjuYV3zik/VrF7OFF8sQI/AAAAAAAAAIY/Hh7RuxMpDRw/s320/article_bad_news_good_news02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://imgbuddy.com/jesus-facepalm-statue.asp" target="new">Jesus Facepalm</a></td></tr></tbody></table>In Ezekiel 36:26 God speaks to his people through the prophet, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (NIV). Through this prophecy, God proclaims the future renewal of the heart and spirit of his people – a new heart that will beat in harmony with God’s own heart, and a new spirit that will be in sync with God’s own Spirit. Sure enough, in Jesus’ most central and foundational teaching – the Sermon on the Mount, he challenges us of our calloused heart and our dull spirit.<br /><br />Now this is the BAD news to both the Jews in the New Testament’s time and the Christians of this day – If you do and not do things just because the Law or the rules of the Bible tell you so, you are NOT doing very well. It doesn’t make you “a man after God’s own heart,” and it doesn’t make you better than the Pharisees. In Matthew 5 Jesus made it clear that the Law is merely the minimum requirement for God’s people, and now the Law is fulfilled by Jesus, we are expected to do better than the requirement of the Law!<br /><br />Starting from the Beatitudes, people’s perception of the divine reward system was shaken up by Jesus. Now it’s not the prestigious Pharisees, who observe the Law perfectly, that will be blessed, but those who are poor in spirit and mourn. Now it’s not the Sadducees, who hold the honorable seat of judgment, that will be blessed, but those who are merciful and pure in heart. As the crowd was listening to Jesus, I imagine some of them must be thinking, “Man, what’s this guy doing? He’s turning everything upside down!”<br /><br />Sensing this, and to prepare people for the even more radical teachings, in Matthew 5:17 Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” No, though the Law is fulfilled by Jesus, it is not abolished; and in verse 19, Jesus encourages people to practice and teach the Law. But the problem is – many among the crowd listening to Jesus may not even know the Law. And just as if to practice and teach the Law isn’t hard enough, now in verse 20, Jesus even commands us to be more righteousness than the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law! How are we to surpass the righteousness of the teachers of the Law? And what does that even mean?<br /><br />Just as Deuteronomy (“second law”) is Moses’ sermon for people to understand the spirit of the Law, the Sermon on the Mount could be rightly called the “Tritosnomy!” (“third law;” this is original, you need to cite me on that!) According to Jesus’ Tritosnomy, cursing someone is just as guilty as murder, and looking at a woman lustfully is just as disgraceful as adultery! When you are making a promise, let your words reflect what’s on your heart! As it becomes more and more evident as Jesus goes, what used to be on the behavioral level, now Jesus is bringing them to the heart and spirit level – not as something extra, but as something should have been.<br /><br />The Law, which governed the behavior, was only meant to be the tutor to bring us to Jesus. God’s original intent for the election of his people was never merely about what we do or not do, but about the transformation of our heart and spirit, so that we may reflect him completely! However, just as everything seems to be starting to make sense, we are hit with the real challenge – in Matthew 5:48, Jesus is telling us to be “perfect” – just as God is perfect. Could anyone imagine themselves to be perfect like God? Isn’t it a profanity to even think that we could be perfect like God? What does Jesus even mean by “perfect?” While it may seem like a mission impossible to reach such perfection, it’s really the GOOD news!<br /><br />What leads to Jesus’ acclamation of God’s perfection is from the verses preceding it, where Jesus comments, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (ESV). Similarly, in Matthew 9:13, when the Pharisees saw that Jesus was hanging out with the tax collectors and sinners, they weren’t too happy about it. To their dismay, Jesus responds, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’” “Go and learn what it means” – what these words imply is the Pharisees’ lack of understanding. The same goes to Mark 2:27, where Jesus says to the Pharisees, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” As well as in Luke 6:9, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” Again and again, it’s as if Jesus is saying to them, “Can’t you see? Can’t you see the heart of the Father? Don’t you get it?”<br /><br />The Pharisees followed the Law to the letter, but they do not understand the heart of God. The heart of God, as Jesus has made it clear for us, is merciful and gracious. He is compassionate, slow to anger and abound in love. He loves us more than a father loves his son! He pardons us more than seventy-seven times! It’s the understanding of God’s heart and his goodness that will liberate us FROM the pursuit of ideology out of fear, and so we will be freed TO pursue perfection out of love - just as our Father in heaven is perfect. Therefore, Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:48 aren’t intended as a command to bind us to even more burdensome works, but rather a declaration of our freedom from the Law, for the Law only leads to fear, judgment and defensiveness. After all, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (1 John 4:18).<br /><br />It’s only when we are freed from the Law that our heart and spirit may be renewed – a new heart that is tuned to God’s heartbeat, a new spirit that is aligned with God’s Spirit, and so that we may become perfect like our Father. And it’s only then we’ll be able to love like our Father loves, and so that we may rise above the Law, and become more righteous than the Pharisees. For “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10); and it’s only then the Kingdom may come through us, and God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-34382999967022884312015-12-24T15:00:00.000-08:002015-12-24T15:06:16.613-08:00The Misfortunate Son of God<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-buhgkfvTyXw/VnxwpISFs_I/AAAAAAAAAIE/4oIjW94HRCQ/s1600/article_the_misunfortunate01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-buhgkfvTyXw/VnxwpISFs_I/AAAAAAAAAIE/4oIjW94HRCQ/s320/article_the_misunfortunate01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://anawimcc.org/jesus-and-the-outcast/" target="new">Anawim Christian Community</a></td></tr></tbody></table>If I’m being honest with you and tell you that becoming a Christian won’t make life easier, healthier or richer, and sometimes it may even make things harder, you may wonder why the hack, then, would anyone want to become a Christian? Good question! I have the same question for Jesus, actually – Why would the Son of God want to become a human? And why didn’t he become a rich and powerful one, but a poor one with quite some misfortunes in life?<br /><br />Yes, the Son of God had quite a misfortunate life: He was born in a manger, because all the hotel rooms and guest houses were sold out, oops. He was hated for simply being him, and people tried to kill him when he was still a baby, oops. Traveling on foot for miles and miles was a natural part of his life, as well as hunger, thirst and sleep deprivation, oops. He got countless people trying to crack his head with rocks, and trying to push him down the cliff, oops. He eventually got beaten up, flogged and nailed to a tree log, and died of suffocation, yikes! And yes, his life was so misfortunate that people laughed at him when he was nailed to the tree log. They said to him as he was struggling to breathe, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross! Save yourself! Mahahaha…” (evil laughter added by me for the effect).<br /><br />So I guess, I am a lunatic who believe in a…joke? And you may ask, so is it worth it for me to dedicate my life to Jesus? I have the same question for Jesus, actually – was it worth it for the Son of God to become a human…a misfortunate one?<br /><br />I think the answer lies in each encounter that Jesus had with the people he met during his time on earth. It was with each kid that he welcomed into his arms, each friend he made, each person he healed, and each life he touched. It is because of his humble birth that he was deeply connected with the common people, and yet it was with his divine authority, he stood by the poor, the needy and the marginalized. It was with his violent death that he accomplished the unthinkable – human beings can now have genuine relationship with God, not just as believers, but as God’s children!<br /><br />No one knows human hearts more than Jesus – the Creator/Sustainer of human beings, and a human person himself, and yet he loved us in our strengths, weakness, our intelligence and our ignorance – our imperfect humanity. Rather than hatred, it was this profound understand of humanity that led to his great compassion for us. So I think he enjoyed the friendship with Matthew and Zacchaeus, the tax collectors. I think it warmed his heart when Mary sat by his feet. I think it broke his heart when he saw people mourning for Lazarus. I think he felt hurt for the woman caught in adultery, who the Pharisees were trying to kill. I think it was refreshing to him when the gentile man and woman showed great faith in him. I think he was inspired by the brief conversation he had with this random woman at the well. As much as his students/best buds were slow to grasp the truth, he loved them. Even when he was betrayed by his best pal Peter, he had a soft spot for him.<br /><br />I think it’s the relationships Jesus had, has and will have with each human person that made it worth it. What could delight the Creator of the universe more than when his wonderful creations choose to come into relationship with him? Jesus’ life on earth may have been misfortunate, but it was also blessed. So is it worth it for me to dedicate my life to him. It is his humble birth and rough death for his loved ones that made it worth it. It is the relationship that I have with him made it worth it. Even as a Christian that I may still struggle in so many aspects of my life, it is my relationship with Jesus that made it worth it. I’m sorry if we the Christians have failed to reflect the compassionate and longsuffering nature of our Christ, but just as he welcomed each kid into his arms, he welcomes EACH and EVERY ONE into having a relationship with him. Don’t let an easier, healthier and richer life, anything, and anyone keep you from running into his arms.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-74554056451192726632015-10-19T17:22:00.000-07:002015-10-19T17:38:13.994-07:00A Journey in the Dark Night of the Soul<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GPZTwb9mdSw/ViWFDVyrGeI/AAAAAAAAAHw/0_amfhPLTOY/s1600/article_the_dark_night01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GPZTwb9mdSw/ViWFDVyrGeI/AAAAAAAAAHw/0_amfhPLTOY/s320/article_the_dark_night01.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Provision by <a href="http://cwrcolorunchained.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Claudia Wood Rahm</a></td></tr></tbody></table>In the past couple of years, as I was nurtured by my study in the seminary, I experienced a never before spiritual drought. During this time, I had difficulty hearing and feeling God, as if God had turned a deaf ear to my prayers, or that He had abandoned me. It was a scary lonely feeling. It was like walking in the dark all by myself, and yet I didn’t know where I was going, and how long must I go. I called out in despair for help, but no one was there to answer. In the Christian tradition, this experience is often termed as the “Dark Night of the Soul,” and it’s sometimes described as a spiritual “desert wandering.” It’s a time of spiritual solitude. People usually experience it when God is moving them towards the next spiritual life stage.<br /><br />In the beginning of my Dark Night, I wasn’t sure what had happened, but somehow, the sense of God’s togetherness was diminishing, and my prayers were often met with dead silence. In the first half of my journey in the Dark Night, my spiritual life became like Elijah’s two journeys in the desert. In 1 King 17, after pronouncing the curse of a drought to Israel, Elijah went to hide near a brook in the desert. While he was in the desert, he drank from the brook, and ate from the pieces of bread that the ravens brought him. However, the brook eventually went dry. In Elijah’s second journey in 1 King 19, he was escaping from Jezebel the queen of Israel. He was exhausted and frustrated. In the desert, he sat under a tree, and said to God, “I’ve had enough! Now, O Lord, take my life” (1 King 19:4, NET). Nevertheless, the angel of God brought him just enough of food and water to keep him going.<br /><br />During this time, God’s presence to me was a lot like the bread crumbs and cakes that the ravens and the angel brought Elijah. They were a little here and a little there. At first, they were enough to keep me going, but eventually the brook went dry. I became frustrated, and I said to God numerous times, “I’ve had enough! This has got to stop!” Yet, even my protests were met with dead silence. All my life, I had been able to feel God’s togetherness, and so I took His presence for granted. I had no idea how lonely it was to be without His Spirit. It was a loneliness that nothing can fill. It was a spiritual loneliness.<br /><br />God felt just so cold and distant. When I prayed, I heard only the echoes in my head. It was like when you tried to call somebody on the phone, and all you heard was, “I'm sorry, the number you have reached is disconnected…” I was convinced that God didn’t care about me anymore, and so I gradually stopped to pray. At its worst, I wondered if God enjoyed watching me suffer from afar, as if my life was a cheesy soap opera. In the latter half of my journey in the Dark Night, I eventually lost any feeling of God’s presence in my life. I began to doubt God’s existence. I thought to myself, “Did I gave up my career at its high, and spent all these big bucks just to find out that God isn’t real? What a joke it would be if I become an atheist after all these years of seminary training!”<br /><br />I was so frustrated that I became angry at God. In my distress I cursed God, and I thought to myself, “Life would be so much easier without God and the burden of this religion!” That’s when I realized that I had become the Israelites whom God brought out of Egypt. In their distress, they grumbled against Moses and God, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger!” (Exodus 16:3).<br /><br />I was convicted by my own thoughts, and I realized how I had been like those stiff-necked Israelites who had little trust in God. I repented from my pride, and I humbled myself. However, God was still out of reach. I hated that feeling of being without God. It felt like I had become an orphan, or that I was divorced, or that I lost my best friend. Something that was close to heart went missing. I apologized to God over and over again for any possible offense I may have done against Him, but nothing was changed. Then I thought, maybe God wasn’t listening to me, because I wasn’t praying right; or maybe it was because I wasn’t getting my theology right. What if I read more Bible? What if I try to be a nicer person? Yet again, nothing was changed. I wished desperately that there was something I could <i>DO</i> to bring Him back.<br /><br />After years of wandering in the spiritual desert, at the end, it was the Holy Spirit who led me out of it. The Dark Night of the Soul turned out to be an opportunity for growth in so many different aspects of my spiritual life. Based on the Christian tradition, with which my own experience resonates, the most important area that God wants us to grow through the Dark Night is our relationship with Him. One crucial lesson that I learned from my journey in the Dark Night is that there really isn’t anything that I want more than God’s togetherness. It doesn’t matter where I go, what I do, or whom I’m with, I’ll be fine as long as I have God in my life. There really isn’t anyone or anything that I need and love more than God.<br /><br />My journey in the Dark Night also taught me that there really isn’t anything that I could <i>DO</i> to be close to Him. God is a real Person, who desires <i>REAL</i> and <i>INTIMATE</i> relationship with us. I used to feel this distance from God that I could only address Him as Lord or Father in my prayer, but now I feel safe, comfortable and intimate enough to call Him Dad. Nevertheless, because the relationship between each person and God is unique, how God wants you to grow in your relationship with Him through the Dark Night will be different from that of mine. This is the area that you will have to wrestle with God in your own way and your own pace.<br /><br />The Dark Night is also a time for us to broaden our theological boundaries through the guidance of our biblical knowledge, but not limited by it. It’s a time to prioritize things in our lives, to explore our heart in a deeper level, to reflect on our relationship with our Heavenly Father, and to grow into a deeper relationship with Him. For those who are experiencing the Dark Night of the Soul right at this moment, I pray that the Holy Spirit may bring you peace, and guide your way. May God watch over your coming and going all through this journey, so that your foot may not slip. I will pray for you when you can't pray. I hope you’ll take comfort in knowing that God is there with you, even when you couldn’t feel it.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-65529695481283837932015-09-02T22:49:00.001-07:002015-09-02T22:59:12.156-07:00Judges 4:9 The Rise of a Female Leader: Deborah<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ixSqZlKJFfg/VeZo8MCc1qI/AAAAAAAAAGs/pzUxZgvXpaE/s1600/article_deborah_and_barak01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ixSqZlKJFfg/VeZo8MCc1qI/AAAAAAAAAGs/pzUxZgvXpaE/s320/article_deborah_and_barak01.jpg" width="257" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah and Barak by Francesco Solimena<br />Image source: <a href="http://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Deborah-and-Barak/45D01CB7C7788348" target="_blank">MutualArt Services, Inc.</a></td></tr></tbody></table>In my daily devotion I have come to the book of Judges, and this time around when I read it, Judges 4:9 caught my attention:<br /><br />“<i>‘Very well,” Deborah said, ‘I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh</i>” (NIV84).<br /><br />The rise of Deborah in the ancient Israel’s patriarchal culture has never ceased to be a focal topic of discussion among the Christians. Much of the discussion centered on the question as to why God would raise up a female judge. In Judges 4:4-5 though the introduction of Deborah tells us briefly who she was and what she did, it does not tell us why she was chosen.<br /><br />Some points to verses 7-9 to say that God was going to honor Barak by giving Sisera, a Canaanite army commander, into Barak’s hands. But because of Barak’s hesitation, the honor was given to Deborah instead. In other words, the honor being given to a woman is thought of as a punishment for Barak’s reluctance to go to the battlefield. Some takes it even further, contending that Barak’s hesitation reflects the cowardice of the Israelite men in his time. Therefore, it was because that the men had failed to “man up,” so that God had to raise up a female judge. In their conclusion, God only raises up female leaders when men are not “man enough.”<br /><br />When I read through the story of Deborah, a few questions came to mind. For example, in the beginning of verse 9 it says, “<i>But because of <u>the way</u> you are going about this…</i>” What way? And why is it because of this “way” that the honor which was due Barak had to be given away? Is Barak’s honor being given away a result of his “hesitation” or “cowardice?” Further, who is the woman that into her hands Sisera would be delivered? Is it Deborah, because she agreed to go with Barak?<br /><br />To make sense of this verse, I explored the translation of the key words by consulting some other English versions of the Bible, such as the NASB and KJV:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: #e5e5e5; padding: 50px;">“<i>She said, ‘I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.’ Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.</i>” (NASB)</blockquote><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: #e5e5e5; padding: 50px;">“<i>And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.</i>” (KJV)</blockquote><br />Admittedly, it is never easy to translate a language as old as Hebrew into contemporary English. The gap between the languages, the cultures and the source texts is what makes translation difficult. However, what I found interesting is that for this verse, most of the prevalent versions of the Bible, along with the NASB and KJV, use words such “journey” or “road” in preference to the NIV’s more ambiguous use of words such as “way” (NIV84) or “course” (NIV2011). Even with the versions that do use the word “way,” they phrase it in a fashion to indicate a course of travel or a route, rather than a manner or mode of behavior. In this respect, I find the NET’s use of “expedition” to be particularly fitting in view of the context as Barak was called to war.<br /><br />Aside from NIV’s interpretation, it seems safe to assume that Deborah’s prophecy to Barak may have more to do with the nature of this expedition than with his manner or mode of behavior. Although it is suggested by some commentaries that in verse 8 Barak was showing reluctance to obey Deborah’s instruction, by the natural reading of it, I can see no such sign of reluctance on Barak’s part. I suppose if Barak was to reject Deborah’s call to war, he would have refused to go. And yet, instead of rejecting Deborah’s instruction altogether, Barak requested her company. It seems that Deborah’s presence was so crucial to Barak’s expedition that he cannot go without it.<br /><br />It is important to keep in mind that Deborah is both a prophetess and a judge. A prophet is to convey messages from God. For most of the other judges, their calls to war came directly from God. However, with Barak, his call to war came through Deborah. It seems that for whatever reason, God chose to communicate with Barak through Deborah. And this may very likely be the reason why that Barak requested Deborah’s company for the expedition, and why that Deborah readily agreed to go with him. The partnership between Deborah and Barak was much like that of Moses and Aaron. And indeed, in verse 14 we can see that Deborah was the one through whom God gave Barak the command to charge and bestowed encouragement. Therefore, far from being a sign of hesitation or cowardice, Barak’s request for Deborah’s company was of godly wisdom.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-suwvzp2FMT8/VeZ3_z5n_dI/AAAAAAAAAHE/HeogwWI8gSs/s1600/article_jael_and_sisera01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-suwvzp2FMT8/VeZ3_z5n_dI/AAAAAAAAAHE/HeogwWI8gSs/s320/article_jael_and_sisera01.jpg" width="305" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://www.wesleyduffeebraun.com/2013/07/01/photo-exploration-jael-and-sisera/" target="_blank">Photo Exploration: Jael and Sisera</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Having said that, this seems to suggest that in Deborah’s time, Barak may have shared or succeeded Deborah’s role as the judge, this may explain why that in 1 Samuel 12:11 and Hebrews 11:32 Barak’s name is mentioned along with the other judges. This then raises another question – if Barak’s honor was to be given away as Deborah prophesied that it would, how then is his name still honored such as in the Song of Deborah, 1 Samuel 12:11 and Hebrews 11:32? This, of course, begs the question that if all these are about Barak’s personal honor at all. If it is not, whose honor then was Deborah talking about in Judges 4:9?<br /><br />This question brings us to yet another discrepancy in the English translations, that is, the explicit mention of “the Lord” in verse 9. While most modern English translations of the Bible agree that “the Lord” is to be explicitly mentioned in this verse, a few other translations, such as the WYC, do not have “the Lord” in this verse – “<i>And she said to him, Soothly I shall go with thee; but in this time the victory shall not be areckoned to thee; for Sisera shall be betaken into the hand of a woman…</i>” Such discrepancy can be traced to even the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate. While the Greek Septuagint does have “for the Lord” in this verse, the Latin Vulgate does not.<br /><br />At any rate, even without the explicit mention of “the Lord,” judging from the greater context of Judges, we can be certain that it is no one but the Lord who delivered Sisera to his destruction. The theme of Judges is Israel’s fallacy that led to their unfaithfulness: When they were doing alright, they forgot about God’s sovereignty, and so they were given into the hands of their enemies; and when they were oppressed by their enemies, they cried out to God, and so God raised up judges to deliver them; and after the deliverance, they soon forgot about God’s sovereignty again…and so this cycle of unfaithfulness went on and on. As both the judge and a prophetess, Deborah was thus to remind the Israelites of their God through deliverance.<br /><br />Surely there will be no honor for Barak from this expedition. Though he was the army leader, it was God who fought for Israel. In other words, Barak did not lose honor. It was never his honor to have in the first place. Without having God going ahead of them, the courage and the fighting force of Barak and the company of Deborah would amount to nothing. And this is the core message of the book of Judges. It is for this reason, in Judges 7:2 God said to Gideon, “<i>The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, <u>for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.</u></i><u>’</u>” What could exhibit God’s sovereignty more clearly than to give the fierce Sisera into the hands of Jael, a housewife whose clan was at peace with Sisera’s? What an irony it is that a man, who founded his confidence in nine hundred iron chariots, was to be killed by a peg in the head? I think God made Himself clear enough.<br /><br />Yes, I believe the woman that Deborah referred to in verse 9 was Jael. As it becomes evident later in the chapter that it was indeed by the hands of Jael that Sisera was slaughtered. Jael’s name was thus blessed in the Song of Deborah along with Deborah and Barak. However, what matters the most in the story of Deborah, as it is in the whole book of Judges, is not the honor of these faithful women and man, but the honor and glory of God. The purpose of the Song of Deborah, therefore, is not to hail Deborah, Barak, or Jael, but to praise the Lord. Just as it is in 1 Samuel 12:11 and Hebrews 11:32, when Barak along with all the others are mentioned, it is not about their personal honor, but about God’s faithfulness.<br /><br />All in all, the story of Deborah is not about how Deborah got to take all the credit that was not hers just because God picked a weak indecisive man. In the story of Deborah, we got a strong and courageous female leader who was chosen and exalted by God; a male leader who had the wisdom to recognize and respect God’s presence and authority exercised through Deborah beyond gender; and a brave woman who was least expected, whether for her gender, clan, or social status etc., to have the notorious Sisera killed.<br /><br />Nevertheless, Judges is not a book about gender. Judges is a book about the faithfulness of God despite Israel’s unfaithfulness. We may never know the reason why God raised up a female judge in a patriarchal culture. Anyhow, God may raise anyone up for His good pleasure, male or female. When we allow ourselves to be sidetracked by questions such as Deborah’s gender or, really, any Christian leader’s gender, we are making the same mistake as the Israelites – we are failing to see that it is God who is all in all.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container"><tbody><tr><td style="width: 100%; height: 200px; min-width: 705px; background: url('http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-giLfFTnbWgc/VeZ-sp8rkmI/AAAAAAAAAHU/dFQ7K6FZkcI/s1600/article_the_defeat_of_sisera01.jpg'); background-position: -220px -150px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-giLfFTnbWgc/VeZ-sp8rkmI/AAAAAAAAAHU/dFQ7K6FZkcI/s1600/article_the_defeat_of_sisera01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img style="opacity: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-giLfFTnbWgc/VeZ-sp8rkmI/AAAAAAAAAHU/dFQ7K6FZkcI/s1600/article_the_defeat_of_sisera01.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="background-color: #000000; text-align: center;">The Defeat of Sisera by Luca Giordano<br />Image source: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giordano,_Luca_-_The_Defeat_of_Sisera_-_c._1692.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a></td></tr></tbody></table>ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-5118427313995955632015-07-30T20:48:00.000-07:002015-07-30T21:36:45.755-07:00“Satan’s Got Our Bible!” – A Brief Survey of the KJV, NIV, ESV and NASB<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vcjRO5m78XU/UpWLTAt-SbI/AAAAAAAAABM/6dxzbcq2ZU4/s220/logo_facebook01.jpg" style="visibility: hidden !important; float: left !important; position: relative !important; height: 0px !important; width: 0px !important:margin:0px !important;" /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J77_wCRGJvs/VbrlhQGMJoI/AAAAAAAAAF8/yyBMsPVGd1E/s1600/article_bible01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J77_wCRGJvs/VbrlhQGMJoI/AAAAAAAAAF8/yyBMsPVGd1E/s400/article_bible01.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: screen captured from<br />Android Bible app</td></tr></tbody></table>Recently, there have been rumors attacking the trustworthiness of certain modern English versions of the Bible, such as the NIV, ESV and NASB, going around among Christians. In these rumors, the modern English versions of the Bible are often compared to the KJV Bible, saying that these modern English versions have Bible verses “intentionally omitted,” and the omissions are the evidence of the satanic control of the modern English Bible publishers. Thus they are not to be trusted. It’s with this “satanic” language that I’m alerted and prompted to address to these rumors. I believe that a brief survey of how the modern English versions of the Bible came to be would be helpful for countering misunderstandings and lies, and for defending our faith.<br /><br />As you may know that the original writings of the Bible were in Hebrew for the Old Testament, and Greek and Aramaic for the New Testament. It was through handwritten copies of these original writings that the scriptures were circulated among early Christians. In the Middle Ages, patristic biblical scholar Jerome was commissioned to produce the Latin version of the Bible, known as Vulgate, in the late 4<sup>th</sup> and early 5<sup>th</sup> century. Up until the 15<sup>th</sup> century, through Renaissance came the humanist movement. Humanists demanded the return to the original sources of theology. They believed that the Old Testament was to be studied in Hebrew, and the New Testament was to be studied in Greek.<br /><br />Therefore, based on the Byzantine text, Dutch humanist priest Erasmus produced <i>Novum Instrumentum omne</i> in 1516, which is a Greek version of the New Testament, also known as the Textus Receptus. Byzantine text is consisted of a large number of Greek New Testament manuscripts written in Byzantine text-type, but they are by no mean the oldest manuscripts. As mentioned above, a biblical manuscript is a handwritten copy of a portion of the original writings of the Bible. But it’s not just “a copy” of the original text that we are talking about. We are talking about a copy of a copy of a copy… – generations of copies of the original writings. Therefore, presumably the later/younger the copy, the more scribal errors there may be – they are more generations down from the original writings.<br /><br />To make the Bible more accessible to all God’s people, during the Protestant Reformation, based on Erasmus’ Textus Receptus, Luther published his German version of the New Testament in 1522. Of the same mind, at the dawn of the English Reformation, based also on the Textus Receptus, English scholar Tyndale published his English version of the New Testament in 1525. In the early 1600, King James I demanded a new English version of the Bible, which may reflect the use of the contemporary English in his time, and thus the 1<sup>st</sup> edition of the King James Version Bible (KJV) was published by the Church of England in 1611. The KJV translation of the New Testament was based largely on Erasmus’ Textus Receptus, Luther’s German Bible, Tyndale’s English Bible, and some on the Latin Vulgate. KJV has since become the most popular version of the English Bible through centuries.<br /><br />Nevertheless, since the time of the KJV, new discoveries of ancient manuscripts are continued to be made. For example, in 1844, Codex Sinaiticus – one of the oldest and most complete Greek Bible dating from AD 325 was discovered. The Alexandrian text is consisted of older manuscripts like Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus and fragments of manuscripts that are written in Alexandrian text-type. While most of the Byzantine manuscripts originate from the 9<sup>th</sup> and 5<sup>th</sup> century, the Alexandrian manuscripts are largely dated from way before the 5<sup>th</sup> century. In other words, the Alexandrian manuscripts are much older than the Byzantine manuscripts, and thus presumably closer in generation to the original writings of the Bible.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6sbDLmsAgMA/VbrlhMl-W2I/AAAAAAAAAGI/zZOdwOBiCfg/s1600/article_bible02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6sbDLmsAgMA/VbrlhMl-W2I/AAAAAAAAAGI/zZOdwOBiCfg/s320/article_bible02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/project/conservation_report.aspx" target="_blank">Codex Sinaiticus</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Based on the Alexandrian text, German biblical scholar Nestle published his 1<sup>st</sup> edition of the Greek version of the New Testament <i>Novum Testamentum Graece</i> in 1898. In 1975, <i>Novum Testamentum Graece</i> is revised by one of its principal editors, Aland, based on an important new discovery of the earliest known New Testament manuscript fragments. Aland submitted his work to the editorial committee of the United Bible Societies (UBS), which is a global network of Bible Societies, and it became the basic text of UBS’ 3<sup>rd</sup> edition of <i>Greek New Testament</i>, known as UBS3. Later, Aland’s work was also published in the 26<sup>th</sup> edition of <i>Novum Testamentum Graece</i>, known as NA26. The UBS and NA texts are the primary sources of most of the modern English versions of the Bible.<br /><br />In 1950, the English used in the KJV was no longer “contemporary” to its American readers. The old Victorian English had, instead, become an obstacle to the spread of the gospel. This time, however, the demand for a new English translation of the Bible was not initiated by any priest, scholar or royalty – this time it was initiated by a General Electric engineer, Howard Long. Long’s demand was brought to his pastor, and from his pastor to his congregation, and then to his denomination, and eventually a translation committee was formed with members from the Christian Reformed Church and the National Association of Evangelicals. Based largely on the UBS and NA versions of the Greek New Testament, with the collaboration of over 100 scholars, the 1<sup>st</sup> edition of the New International Version (NIV) was published in 1978. Since then, the NIV has become one of the most popular English versions of the Bible.<br /><br />Besides the NIV, the 1<sup>st</sup> edition of the New American Standard Bible (NASB) and the English Standard Version (ESV) were also published in the 1970s. The late distinguished professor of Talbot Dr. Robert Saucy, whom I respected highly, was one of the three scholars who worked on the 1st edition of the NASB as well as its 1995 update. The Dean of Talbot Dr. Clinton Arnold is one of the translation review scholars of the ESV. Both the NASB and ESV also based their New Testament texts primarily on the UBS and NA texts.<br /><br />At this point, it is important to note that the Christian doctrine of biblical inerrancy refers ONLY to the original writings of the Bible, not to the manuscripts, not to the vernacular translations, and not to our interpretations of the Bible. Since we do not have the original writings, with all the manuscripts and fragments discovered, the work of the biblical scholars is to put together text sources that may be as close and true to their original writings as possible. They do so with the help of archaeology and textual criticism. With each new discovery of the manuscript or fragment, biblical scholars carefully evaluate the trustworthiness and accuracy of them based on factors such as their origin, historicity and consistency etc.<br /><br />As you can see by now, although the KJV is the older English version of the Bible, its New Testament text sources are actually later/younger than the NIV, NASB and ESV. Moreover, in those modern English versions of the Bible, the disputable verses and passages as well as the variations in manuscripts are often honestly and clearly indicated in the footnotes. Nevertheless, to be as close and true to the original writings as possible also means that there may be times when some disputable Bible verses, which are in the KJV, but not in the most reliable manuscripts, must be removed from the modern translations. I applaud the translation scholars of these modern English versions of the Bible for their courage to do the right thing, even though they knew that it may upset some readers.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ph2M1Uz5ZqI/VbrlhtdTQyI/AAAAAAAAAGM/0oZ1pxBp7TA/s1600/article_bible03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ph2M1Uz5ZqI/VbrlhtdTQyI/AAAAAAAAAGM/0oZ1pxBp7TA/s320/article_bible03.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Greek NA28/English ESV and<br />Chinese CUV/English NIV Bibles</td></tr></tbody></table>At present, we have more than 6000 manuscripts and fragments of the Greek New Testament to witness to the reliability of our New Testament text sources. However, perfect vernacular translation simply does NOT exist. The difference between these 4 versions of the Bible is mostly their translation philosophy. If you put them on a spectrum between formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence, the NASB would be the most formal one, and followed by the KJV, and then the ESV; whereas the NIV would be well balanced between formal and dynamic. For a seeker or a new Christian I would recommend the NIV, for small group meetings I may recommend ESV, and for serious Bible study I would recommend them all with reference to the NASB.<br /><br />What is dangerous to our faith is not the “wrong” version of the Bible. If you want to see evidence of Satan, it is in divisiveness you’d find traces of him. Christians, I urge you to refrain from calling our brothers and sisters in Christ as demons or accomplices of Satan. We are sinful human beings living in a fallen world, and our ability to grasp the Truth is corrupted by original sin. None of us understands God perfectly, and that’s exactly why we need each other. It is nothing but spiritual pride for any one person or organization within the Christian community to claim the knowledge of the whole Truth. Let us humble ourselves before God, and before each other.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-28812473626464029112015-07-06T16:58:00.003-07:002015-07-06T16:58:43.540-07:00The Journey of a Dumb Student<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kzmu7bWO1ps/VZsSA57KHnI/AAAAAAAAAFg/yLPBPe9nCyY/s1600/article_student01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kzmu7bWO1ps/VZsSA57KHnI/AAAAAAAAAFg/yLPBPe9nCyY/s1600/article_student01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b><span style="color: #666666;"><i>I was categorized by my teacher as a helpless dumb student, but years later, I managed to receive a M.A. degree with High Honor. I was very honored to have been invited by Far East Broadcasting to share this journey of my student life over the radio last Sunday. For those of you who missed my sharing last Sunday, or don’t speak Mandarin, I put also my story in writing:</i></span></b><br /><br />I worked through most of my 20s in the corporate world doing what I wasn’t interested in day in and day out. Near the end of my 20s, I began to question my life. I just couldn’t seem to see the purpose of my life. It was around this time, through a series of events, I sensed that God was propelling me to pursue theological study. “Me? You’re joking right?” I said to God. As a student, I did horribly through most of my school life. I was constantly in among the last 5 in my classes. I was bad at memorization, and so I did poorly with subjects such as history and geography. Nevertheless, I did even worse with math, biology, physics and chemistry. I was kind of sporty, but not really. I did average with arts. I didn’t know what I was doing as a student. My school life and performances contributed greatly to my low self-esteem.<br /><br />When I was in junior high school, I was categorized as a helpless “dumb student” by one of my math teachers. I remember once when I was walking across the classroom, she called me and asked in front of the whole class out of the blue, “Are you from the bilingual department?” “No…” I answered, and she said to me, “I asked because you look dumb, just like those from the bilingual department.” I felt so confused and humiliated at when. Nevertheless, there was another occasion when one day the teacher ran into me and my mother after school. She said to my mother in my face, “Your daughter is so dumb that college will do her no good, so don’t send her to high school. Just let her go to a vocational school, so she could at least survive.” It was how the teacher defined me, and for the longest time, I believed it.<br /><br />7 years into my career life, after much prayers and planning, I decided to go after what God propelled me to do, but because I only had an Associate degree, I planned on getting my credits transferred to work toward a Bachelor degree. I was accepted into Biola’s Christian Ministries major. My acceptance into Biola was quite a miracle, because my prior GPA was lower than Biola’s admission average. For this reason, I was accepted on academic probation, which means I could still be disqualified if I fail to demonstrate certain degree of academic competence. Surprisingly, my academic achievements for my first year at Biola placed me on the Dean’s List – I became an honors student.<br /><br />In just a matter of one year, another miracle happened – I was accepted into the M.A. program at Talbot School of Theology. In the following 3 years of my master’s study in Pastoral Care &amp; Counseling, I exceeded my own undergraduate performance at Biola, and a few weeks ago I graduated from Talbot with High Honors. I had never thought of getting anything beyond a college degree, let alone a master’s degree in theological studies. If it wasn’t for this experience, I would never be able to discover my true potential.<br /><br /><span style="color: #666666;"><b><i>But I didn't write this to gloat!</i></b></span><br /><br />For a moment there, I felt justified. My performance at Talbot, in a sense, proved me a smart ass. At some points of my M.A. study, I thought about writing a letter to my junior high math teacher to tell her that she was wrong about me, and how horrible a teacher she was. But then, I was reminded of Luke 10:21, in which Jesus says, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that <span style="color: red;"><b>You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants</b>.</span> Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight” (NASB).<br /><br />I'm smart. My Biola and Talbot performances should be enough to prove my academic competence. I'm dumb. I still suck at math. I’m never gonna be the one splitting dinner bills when going out with friends. But it really doesn't matter anymore, because I don't feel the need to prove my intelligence anymore. Now I’d rather stay plain and simple minded like a child, so that I may keep my eyes and ears open towards God. Now I'd rather be proven dumb, if it’s what it takes for me to humbly receive the Word of God. Being dumb, all of a sudden, seems to be more desirable than being smart.<br /><br />Why do I need to justify myself with my intelligence when I have already been justified by Christ with an everlasting life with God? While intelligence is a gift, and it's good to have our strengths affirmed and valued by each other, ultimately I'm not defined by my intelligence or my gifts and talents. I'm defined by my relationship with God. I'm given the gifts, talents and understanding of Him to contribute to Him, His Body and His Creation. The world may deem me worthy or undeserving based on my intelligence, achievements or talents, but I am and I always will be enough in my Father’s eye.<br /><br />Finally, even though this one junior high math teacher of mine was kind of horrible, God has also graciously placed other teachers in the different stages of my school life, who saw the good in me, encouraged me to learn English, inspired my interest in writing, and sowed and watered the seeds of faith in my heart. I thank God for all of them. Mostly, I thank God for taking me onto this sometimes rugged and sometimes turbulent journey of graduate study. This master’s degree is but a milestone, it’s not the destination. On this journey of life, I don’t know where God is leading me next, but I know where I’m now.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-58851151142257773522015-06-21T23:44:00.000-07:002015-06-26T14:36:30.396-07:00Must God talk to me?Must God talk to me?<br /><br /> I asked myself this, because there are so many people around me with whom God's primary way of communication is talking. God talks to them. They would hear God talking - clear and precise. I envied them. I wish God could talk to me, too.<br /><br />However, it's not like that God doesn't communicate with me. It's just that God doesn't communicate with me through talking. God communicates with me in a much different way.<br /><br />Must God talk to me?<br /><br />No. God communicates with<span class="text_exposed_show"> me in that particular way for a good reason. It's just that I don't always trust it because of my flickering faith and the external pressure from life.<br />&nbsp;</span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show">I just need a moment of peace to hear that still small voice, which is screaming without words in my heart. Just to know that He is here gives me great peace.</span>ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-50586136174474713702015-05-06T21:23:00.000-07:002015-06-26T14:38:10.231-07:00When the Heroes are the Villains<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-efImN0OkNvU/VU1CaMUEbII/AAAAAAAAAEY/8a04StCUW1s/s1600/article_pharisees01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-efImN0OkNvU/VU1CaMUEbII/AAAAAAAAAEY/8a04StCUW1s/s1600/article_pharisees01.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="photo photo_right"><span class="caption">Source: unknown. Please notify if you know the source of this picture.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Imagine a world where people are gracious towards each other as God has been gracious to us, what a difference it would make! Unfortunately, we Christians sometimes fail to grasp the grace we have received from God, and thus fail to show grace towards each other. Why are the recipients of grace so blind to grace?<br /><br />From children's Sunday school to adult's Bible study, sermons, and even seminary classes, we are taught to explore the Bible through the lenses of those heroes in the Bible. Especially when it comes to the New Testament, we are led to identify ourselves with the apostles and early Christians.<br /><br />Therefore, when we read Jesus and Paul's dealing with the Pharisees, it's OUR heroes dealing with THEIR false beliefs. We mistakenly believe that being Christian automatically makes us poor in spirit, hunger and thirst for righteousness, and pure in heart – unlike THOSE Pharisees. We Christians so often fail to grasp the sinfulness of ourselves.<br /><br />Christians can't keep categorizing the Pharisee problems as THEIR problems. As we believe the cultural and timely transcendence of the scriptures, we believe that what Paul wrote to the Romans, Ephesians and Corinthians, he wrote for us, too. In the same way, we must take heed that what Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, He rebuked us also.<br /><br />We are as much the older brother in the Prodigal Son as we are the younger son; we are as much the Pharisee, who prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men..." (Luke 18:11, ESV), as the repentant tax collector; we are as much the priest and Levite in the Good Samaritan as the good Samaritan.<br /><br />As much as we like to identify ourselves with the heroes in the Bible, we are not Abraham. We don't have the faith to sojourn without a destination. We are Lot at best, who hurried to settle in an abundant land. We are not David. We don't have the patience and courage to wait as a refugee for God's vindication. We are more like Absalom, who demanded instant justice, and sought vengeance with his own hands.<br /><br />We are not Peter, with whom Christ built the Church on. We struggled even to love the ones in our own local churches, let alone those in God's universal Church, and those not in the Church. We are Ananias and Sapphira, who fooled the Holy Spirit and themselves for the good name. We are not Paul. Most of us have not been imprisoned, beaten, lashed and stoned for the sake of Christ, but we have unwittingly encouraged the beating and shaming of the marginalized. We are the new Jewish converts, who couldn't believe that they were saved only by faith in Christ through grace.<br /><br />No, we are not our Lord Christ Jesus. We fell so far from the likeness of Him. We are the Nazarenes, who would not admit that they were the lepers, and were in need of Christ's healing. We are the Pharisees, who would not accept a Messiah that didn't meet their expectation. We are Pontius Pilate, whom though stood in the very presence of the Truth, asked, "What is truth?"<br /><br />I think it is only when we can identify ourselves with the villains in the Bible that we may begin to see the plank in our own eyes. It is when we are able to see the plank in our own eyes, we'll be able to truly understand God's grace. Well, in fact, I believe that we need a lot more than identifying ourselves with the villains in the Bible to understand our own sinfulness, but…this is a start.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-87567787189963535022015-03-30T20:00:00.000-07:002015-04-13T22:55:03.933-07:00Religious Freedom<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VyXukUT5vJ4/VSyrEvb8k7I/AAAAAAAAAEA/IVu_3wP545U/s1600/article_indiana01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VyXukUT5vJ4/VSyrEvb8k7I/AAAAAAAAAEA/IVu_3wP545U/s1600/article_indiana01.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38912465@N00/13117599824">Do you know your traffic signs?</a><br />via <a href="http://photopin.com/">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">(license)</a></td></tr></tbody></table>In light of what’s been going on in Indiana recently (hint: some bill that’s just signed), I’d like to piggyback on this hot topic to talk about something that my friend has just brought up to me lately. My friend, who lives in Taiwan, is a new convert. After her father’s passing, being the oldest sister, she became the pillar to her mother and her 3 younger siblings. And yet, they are all Buddhists except her.<br /><br />After my friend’s conversion, a very practical question came up to her, that is, should she still be eating with her family? Because what her mother cooks for the family are often from food sacrificed to idols. This is a common issue that troubled many Christians in Taiwan. People from her church warned her about eating food that are defiled by the idols, and so she tried to prevent from eating food sacrificed to idols for a while. But soon, she began to see problems with it.<br /><br />First, it’s causing her mother extra time to cook – now her mother has to cook the same thing twice: one from food that is sacrificed to idols (which is a necessary part of her Buddhist practice), and one from food that is not sacrificed to idols (for my friend). Second, it’s hurting my friend’s relationship with her mother and the rest of her family. It’s making her mother feel segregated. One solution to her dilemma might be that she could cook for herself. But it’s not gonna solve the problem on account of the second problem – doing so may hurt her mother even more.<br /><br />Yes, Jesus did say, “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Matthew 10:35, ESV) and “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). So maybe my friend should choose her Christian conviction over her relationship with her mother and her family.<br /><br />However, by saying these words, Jesus is warning his disciples about the coming persecution, and the persecution did come. In New Testament times, the Jews who chose to follow Christ were often disowned by their families. By way of how Jewish culture works in that era, you may not even be able to do business, to trade, to buy and sell stuff if you are kicked out from the Jewish kinship networks. Later, there were also persecutions by the Roman emperors, who tortured and killed both Jewish and Gentile Christians in gruesome ways.<br /><br />Christians under persecution are made to face the choice between Christ and their family, ethnicity, nation and livelihood. And by choosing Christ, these Christians have, in a sense, made themselves enemy to their family and to their nation. In our day and age, religious persecution still exists in many countries, such as China, North Korean, and some Middle Eastern countries. But that’s not the case in Taiwan and with my friend’s family. First, religions are pretty free in Taiwan. Second, my friend’s mother is actually supportive of her choice of religion.<br /><br />This whole situation reminded me of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 8, in which he talks about food sacrificed to idols. Paul says that we know idols are nothing, and thus it doesn’t really matter whether the food is sacrificed to idols or not. “However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled” (1 Cor. 8:7). “Therefore,” Paul concludes, “if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble” (1 Cor. 8:13).<br /><br />What Paul is saying is that idols, though being called “gods,” are but wood or stone statues. They could not sanctify food, neither could they defile it. The point is not if we COULD eat food that is sacrificed to idols; the point is if we SHOULD. True Christian freedom is that we are freed from the bondage of these taboos, so that our principle of what we do and not do is no longer what we could or could not do, but what is loving, and what builds people up. That is why Paul says, “This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor. 8:1).<br /><br />To apply Paul’s teaching to my friend’s situation, we have to keep in mind that my friend’s mother and her family are not “weaker” brothers and sisters. They are not Christians. To segregate them through food would be an insult to their religious belief, and it would be very hurtful to especially her mother. By staying in relationship with them, and focusing on cultivating her own Christlikeness so that she may learn to love and serve them like Christ, my friend may have a better chance to bring Christ into their lives, and to allow Christ to touch their hearts through her love for them. For my friend, then, it would be “if not eating the food makes my family stumble, I will eat meat, lest I make my family stumble.”<br /><br />From my friend’s situation we can see that what makes people stumble is not always the same, but when considering what we should and should not do, the principle remains – what is loving and what builds people up. It’s not so much about us as it’s about others. It takes wisdom and whole lot of compassion to discern the right things to do in various different situations. At any rate, what really is “religious freedom” to Christians? Maybe it is the question that we need to ask ourselves first.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-68125651180113860262014-12-19T23:26:00.000-08:002014-12-29T19:22:54.186-08:00An Account of My Chaplaincy Practicum<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t0p43CogGyM/VKIY3276mtI/AAAAAAAAADc/5pVBB3xOOM0/s1600/article_origin_5866537045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t0p43CogGyM/VKIY3276mtI/AAAAAAAAADc/5pVBB3xOOM0/s1600/article_origin_5866537045.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: "<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gazeronly/5866537045/" target="_blank">home for one : 16th street,<br />castro, san francisco (2011)</a>"</td></tr></tbody></table>Today is my last day as a volunteer chaplain. Chaplaincy practicum is a part of my course requirement, and I was very impacted by this experience. If time allows, I would really hope to continue with volunteer chaplaincy. Quite different from most of my classmates, I did my chaplaincy practicum not with a hospital, but with a hospice. Hospice provides palliative care to patients who are diagnosed with a life expectancy of 6 months or less. Most of my visits were either at the nursing facilities where the patients reside, or at patients’ homes.<br /><br />In my visits, I witnessed sufferings beyond description. The hospice that I work with does a good job providing pain management and patient care, but there are sufferings that physical care simply could not reach – these are sufferings in the mind and spirit. Many patients suffer for disturbed family relations, loneliness and fear; whereas many patients are angry and anxious at death, because they can’t let go of their loved ones. One of the aims of chaplaincy is to help patients accept death. My chaplain taught me about the hospice’s definition of a good death – it is when patients die in peace with God (or “the universe” for non-Christians), with others and with self.<br /><br />This reminds me of the consequence of the Fall, that is the great separation between God and Man, between Man and Man, and between one and oneself. Seeing death from this perspective, when a person dies of a good death, death, then, makes life complete. For Christians, because we have the assurance of Salvation in Christ, a good death makes life beautiful – it is not only a part of what makes life full, but also what launches us beyond the fullness of this life.<br /><br />For other patients, they suffer for dementia. These patients are out of contact with the world outside of them, and their sufferings stem from their hallucination. Experience with dementia patients sometimes made me wonder, is a person still a person when he lost the control of his own mind? Where is his spirit in his dementia state? But at the same time, I marveled at God’s delicate design of the human brain. It doesn’t really matter what a brilliant person you are, once these certain areas in your brain go wrong, you won’t even be able to control your body or what goes on in your mind.<br /><br />It is a humbling reminder for particularly people like me who take pride in their own knowledge and wisdom. I can’t be my own savior, because there may be a time when even my own brain may betray me. When I lost the ability to think, to communicate, and to experience reality, I need someone bigger and more trustworthy than myself to hold on to my personhood for me. When I couldn’t worship or pray anymore, I need God by His absolute faithfulness to keep walking with me as I walk into eternity.<br /><br />As a chaplain, I sometimes feel powerless to minister to the patients, but I have to trust that the Holy Spirit is ministering to the patients in ways and at levels that I could not reach. Throughout this semester, the more I practiced chaplaincy the more I’m able to feel the heart of God. I can sometimes feel the deep deep compassion that God has for the patients and the human sufferings. As much as I sometimes wondered where God is in all these pains, I saw God in the patients, I felt Him when I’m being His vessel and seeing the patients through His eyes. God is so great and so beautiful.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-48199579037230685812014-11-06T23:12:00.000-08:002014-11-08T21:36:37.635-08:00The Relationship Restoration Project – The Fall<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #444444;">“And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” – Genesis 2:25, ESV<br /><br />“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” – Genesis 3:6<br /><br />“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” – Genesis 3:8</span></blockquote><br /><span id="goog_671903601"></span><span id="goog_671903602"></span><iframe align="right" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-NH_is7VuCI" width="420" style="margin:0px 5px"></iframe>Last week at church, one of the worship songs we sang was “In the Garden.” The lyrics go something like this, “I come to the garden alone, While the dew is still on the roses, And the voice I hear falling on my ear, The song of God discloses…He speaks and the sound of his voice, Is so sweet the birds hush their singing, And the melody that he gave to me, Within my heart is ringing” (Miles C. A., 1912). As I was singing along, I couldn’t help but thought, if we believe that the description of Adam and Eve’s behavior in Genesis 3:8 is the complete opposite to what it was before the Fall, then what is described in “In the Garden” must be pretty close to what Adam and Eve’s relationship with God was like. Every once a while, God would come to the Garden to take a walk with His two children. Adam and Eve would welcome Him joyously. They loved to spend time with their Father, and His voice was like honey to their ears. After all, this is why God created them – to be in loving relationship with Him.<br /><br />In addition to the first men’s relationship with God, as I have previously mentioned, “the first man and woman were made to share in an intimate community as one, just like that of the triune community.” The scriptural evidences give us a glimpse into the pre-fall relationship between the first human beings. In Genesis 2:25 it was a picture of the first man and woman in which that they had nothing to hide from each other, and that they felt safe and secure being naked with each other. They were completely honest and transparent to each other. In Genesis 3:6, while most often the debate is on whether it is the man or the woman who was guiltier of sin, here, ironically, we find a picture of the oneness of the first man and woman. Wherever one went, the other went with; whatever one did, the other did with. Even as one sinned, the other sinned with.<br /><br />While it is suggested by many Evangelical Christians that the pre-fall first man and woman enjoyed sex, I simply could not find any scriptural evidence to support this assumption. I suppose that they came to this conclusion by assuming that it was sex that defined the relationship between the first man and woman. However, from the two scriptural evidences presented above (Genesis 2:25 and 3:6), it seems to me that what defined the relationship between the first man and woman was intimacy rather than sex, and whether that intimacy was expressed through sex or not.<br /><br />At any rate, this intimacy between the first men and God, and between the first man and woman is about to be shattered as the serpent approached. As introduced in Genesis 3, here the serpent, with its deceptive words, created in Eve a doubt about God. On the one hand, you have YHWH Elohiym – the Father Creator whom you loved and loved you, you trusted and shared intimate relationship with; on the other hand, you have this serpent fellow to whom your relation was a dominant one. And yet, the saddest and most devastating part of the Fall is that Adam and Eve chose the serpent over God! In addition, the desire to gain godlike knowledge of good and evil is to reject reliance on God for His judgment, and to say that “I want to be my own judge.”<br /><br />The consequence of the eating of the forbidden fruit came instantly. The shame of this betrayal exposed Adam and Eve of their nakedness. They could no longer be vulnerable to each other and to God, and now they must sew fig leaves together to cover their nakedness. When God came to the garden, instead of welcoming Him joyously, their guilt drove them to hide themselves from Him. When the sound of God should be like honey to their ears, now the voice of God sounds like a harsh judgment. When Adam and Eve were supposed to be one, now when questioned by God, Adam immediately shifted the blame onto Eve. All of a sudden Eve is no longer the “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,” but she is now “The woman you put here with me” (Genesis 3:12, NIV)!<br /><br />The doubt, the betrayal against God, the self-reliant knowledge of good and evil, the guilt and the shame inevitably separated mankind from God. As indicated in verse 24, now God must drive Adam and Eve out of Eden, where it was once the place they enjoyed loving relationship and fellowship with God. Being driven out of Eden denied them access to the tree of life, and thus death became inevitable. Moreover, the self-reliant knowledge of good and evil, the guilt and the shame also separated one mankind from another. The human tendency to be judgmental, which reinforces our walls against each other, is the most clear and direct consequence of the eating of the forbidden fruit.<br /><br />Further, just like a child caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar, it was this sense of guilt that pushed her to lie to her parents, and to deny her own wrong doing. She’s so ashamed that she wishes to forget all about it as if nothing had ever happened. It is much the same way with Adam and Eve. Their sense of guilt and shame ultimately separated them from themselves. They wanted to go and hide themselves. They could no longer bear their own nakedness. People in our generation know how to hide from our own senses of guilt and shame the best. All we have to do is to keep ourselves busy. We over work, we over use the internet, and we over indulge our sensibilities, so that we don’t have to look into our problems and our hearts.<br /><br />Finally, when mankind should be dominating over the rest of the creation, by choosing the serpent over God, the first men perverted the God sanctioned natural order. The first men gave away their dominion, just like Esau gave away his birthright. The perversion of the natural order separated mankind from the rest of the creation. When abundance should be easily nurtured by the loving care of men, it is now “in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread...” (Genesis 3:18-19, ESV). And in our fallen state, by trying so hard to regain our dominion and revert to the original abundance, we end up abusing the natural world.<br /><br />The doubt, the betrayal against God, the self-reliant knowledge of good and evil, the guilt, the shame, death, the great separation between mankind and God, between one mankind and another, between one mankind and oneself, and between mankind and the rest of the creation…all these are the consequence of the Fall. This consequence entered through Adam, and flowed through the entirety of all mankind. This is the original sin. Yet in the midst of this brokenness and depravity, a seed of hope was sown by God, as hinted in Genesis 3:15 – a hope of salvation from this depravity, and a hope of redemption from all these separations and brokenness. If the consequence of the Fall is fundamentally relational, then the salvation and redemption must be fundamentally relational as well. The aim is ultimately to bring mankind back to that loving and intimate relationship with God and with each other.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-64921019443830762222014-10-20T14:30:00.000-07:002014-10-20T22:57:41.085-07:00A Case for Third-Way<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nuCEPw2vGxo/VEXy4G8V8RI/AAAAAAAAADM/78kGNtQd6dQ/s1600/james_seward_who_will_love_him_more.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nuCEPw2vGxo/VEXy4G8V8RI/AAAAAAAAADM/78kGNtQd6dQ/s1600/james_seward_who_will_love_him_more.gif" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="color: #666666;">Seward, James. <i>Who Will Love Him More</i>. 2006. Canvas. N.p.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i>Third-way</i> is an approach that is recently emerged in response to the LGBT issues that American churches are facing. It is a plea for American churches to extend the grace for differences and dialogue for disagreements, which the heterosexual Christians are allowed, to the LGBT Christians. In response to the plea for Third-way, the churches and denominations that hold the traditional view contend that, in the words of Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, "But, there is no third way. A church will either believe and teach that same-sex behaviors and relationships are sinful, or it will affirm them."<br /><br />Further analysis of this response leads me to believe that one of the major underlying issues that the traditionalists have of Third-way is a fear that this approach seeks to take away the Church’s right and freedom to preach against homosexuality. I have to say that I do understand the concern of the traditionalists. I would not want the Church to stop preaching against premarital sex, extramarital relationship, greed and alcohol abuse just as much. But is it really the aim of Third-way to take away the Church’s right and freedom to preach the truth?<br /><br />Before I could answer the question, let me first ask you this – how is your church doing with its evangelism ministry to the LGBT community? How effective is your long held traditional approach in dealing with the homosexual issue whether inside or outside of the church? Have you been able to preach the gay away from the faithful believers who struggle with their sexual identities, or have you simply preached the gay people away from the church?<br /><br />The reluctance to bring the evangelism ministry to the LGBT community may indicate yet another unvoiced belief deep rooted in the traditionalists’ minds – LGBT people are undeserving of the love and salvation of Jesus Christ and His Body, unless if they first rid themselves of their homosexuality. However, not only is this prerequisite that the Church places on the LGBT people uncalled for, but also that it has become a hindrance to the effectiveness of the gospel.<br /><br />In Romans, Paul makes it clear that “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). Yet “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). In Jesus’ own words, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). For one to be saved, whether straight or gay, it is always by grace through faith in Christ Jesus alone. There is nothing anyone can do to earn God’s grace and acceptance.<br /><br />But if you believe that LGBT people are in need of God as much as everyone else, and that LGBT people deserve (or undeserve) God as much as everyone else, and the traditional approach has proven to be ineffective, then why is it that you are unwilling to go to great lengths to meet the LGBT people where they are, and to build a bridge across the differences so that they may come to Jesus Christ?<br /><br />If you knew that today within your congregation, there is a closeted LGBT Christian among you, who is secretly struggling with severe depression because of her sexual orientation, and your sermon may be the last straw to confirm her perceived rejection, and send her to that bottle of sleeping pills or that rope she is going to hang herself with, wouldn’t you go to great lengths to bring comfort to her? If you knew that today outside of your church, there is a LGBT youth who is about to close his heart against God, because he believes that he could never be loved by God as who he is, wouldn’t you build a bridge so that he may experience God’s love through you?<br /><br />In Mark 3:1-6, it was the account of Jesus Heals on the Sabbath, in which Jesus asks, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” It is Jesus challenging the Pharisees of their legalistic mentality, “What is your priority in doing the works of the Kingdom of God?” And it is Jesus going to great lengths to bring healing to the sick. Matter of fact, Jesus has always gone to great lengths to gather the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind to the Kingdom of God. That is how much Jesus values and cares about each person made in the image of God.<br /><br />This, then, is the plea of Third-way in my own understand – it is a plea for us all to sit down and to have communion with tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners (namely, EVERYONE, including you and me, him and her, straight and gay), just like Jesus did, and to withhold the pointing fingers at each other. It is, therefore, a plea for the Church to live out its Christlikeness. To prioritize our ministries the same way Jesus does. The aim of Third-way, then, is to build a bridge, to establish a common ground, and to go to great lengths to bring all the sinners, straight or gay alike, to the Great Physician Himself. Third-way is not about whether you condemn or affirm same-sex behaviors and relationships, it is about the Christlike priority.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-28426952052446590692014-09-29T15:23:00.000-07:002014-09-29T22:47:58.058-07:00Law Observance 101 – How to Properly and Successfully Observe the LawA response to my previous essay on Legalism/Moralism caught my attention, which is about the tendency that some Christians have to observe certain Old Testament laws, such as the food laws and ritual laws etc. This reminds me of a person in the New Testament, who is famous for his outstanding observance of the law. His name is – Mr. Rich Young Man. Perhaps we could all learn from his experience of how to properly and successfully observe the law.<br /><br />---<br /><br /><span style="color: #666666;">The Rich Young Man<br /><br />17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.<br /><br />23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:17-31, ESV)</span><br /><br />---<br /><br />As Christians, our salvation means the whole world to us, and we’d do almost anything to make sure that our salvation is secured. That is the case with Mr. Rich Young Man as well. As a Jew, salvation also means the whole world to him. That is why he came to Jesus, and asked Him the question – “What can I do to make sure that I will inherit eternal life?”<br /><br />Jesus answers him, “So as a Jew, you know the laws, right? Such as Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother…to name a few.” Mr. Rich answers, “Yes, not only do I know them, I observe them just fine.” To this, Jesus answers, “Alright, good job! But you know what? There is one thing that you missed – Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” After this, Mr. Rich went away sad. Here, a question must be asked – what is this one law that Mr. Rich missed that disqualified him from inheriting eternal life, despite his outstanding record of law observance of all the other laws? In other words, it seems that there is this one law, if you have failed to observe it, no observance of any other law could save you.<br /><br />There are two important factors in this passage that we must take a closer look at. First, when interpreting Mark 10:21, people often overemphasize on Jesus’ command to “sell all that you have,” as if Jesus condemns money and possessions. However, when we look at the broader context of its neighboring verses, it seems, by selling our earthly possessions alone will not make us “rich” in heaven. The most important part of this verse should be “give to the poor.” It is by giving to the poor that “you will have treasure in heaven.”<br /><br />Second, when Jesus commented, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples asked, “Then who can be saved?” Based on the Jewish beliefs that financial blessing is a reward for the righteous, I believe that their real question, then, is, “If it is not those who are blessed financially by observing the law perfectly, who else can be saved? Poor folks like us?” In verses 26 to 31, Jesus indicates that it is those who have given up everything to follow Him will enter the kingdom of God. Looking back at verse 21, we find that Jesus also commanded Mr. Rich to leave everything and follow Him.<br /><br />Based on these two factors, the implication seems to be that it is by loving Jesus and others over our possessions and comfort that we may find affirmation of our salvation. Which is exactly what, in Mark 12:30-31, Jesus commented as “the most important commandment in the law” – “‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”<br /><br />I have to say that this is a very challenging commandment that Jesus gave us, because the command to “sell all that you have and give to the poor” and to “leave everything for His sake and for the gospel” is a lifelong commitment. Personally, I know just how difficult it is for me to give up my super awesome smart phone and access to the internet for the rest of my life for the sake of God and the poor. And for some people, it may be their car, their home theater, or their SPA sessions. Simply put, the reality is, it is really difficult for us to love God and care for others over our own possessions and comfort.<br /><br />Therefore, the issue at hand is not only with some Christians’ tendency to observe Old Testament laws, but also with most Christians’ tendency to treat the New Testament as the Christian law book. The story of the Rich Young Man shows us that there is this one law that if you have failed to observe, nothing else would do. And that is “the most important commandment of the law.” As a Christian, if you are wondering how that you may properly and successfully observe the law, I suggest that you center your focus and energy on learning to love God and care for others over yourself and your possessions. And you may, then, realize that everything else would just follow, and fall into their places. At any rate, don’t be discouraged even as you fail to observe “the most important commandment of the law” perfectly. We are ultimately saved by faith in Christ alone. It is our faith in Christ that enabled us to pursue “the most important commandment of the law,” and it is not the other way around.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-60334681796023835102014-09-25T00:29:00.000-07:002014-09-25T11:32:27.126-07:00The Lie of Legalism/MoralismThis is something that's been on my heart for some time. As Christians we know how legalism/moralism could be harmful to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to the unity of the body of Christ. What is often overlooked is how harmful it could be to oneself.<br /><br />One clear symptom of legalism/moralism is that we categorize and label people in a simple dichotomy of right and wrong, black and white, or who's worthy of God and who's not. It is judgemental. It leaves no room for God's grace and mercy.<br /><br />The danger of legalism/moralism is that we bought in the idea that our salvation is up to the good things I do, and the right decisions I make. To an extreme, it's as if saying that we do not need God in our daily living. We only need God at our conversion and at the end of time. This mindset may ultimately leads either to self-deception or a mental break down when a wrong decision or a spiritual mistake is made.<br /><br />Legalism/moralism denies the reality that we all live and move and have our being in this world because God has allowed us to be imperfect, and to exist in the gray area. However, the gray area is where God's grace is. As compare to the holy God, who would have a stand in the white? Who could call themselves right? Who is worthy of God? The false expectation of the world and oneself is often the cause of depression.<br /><br />I'm writing this, therefore, not so much as to advocate for any group of people or any cause, but to advocate for you. Give yourself a break. This world is not either black or white, you are not either black or white. We needed God's grace prior to our salvation, we needed it at our conversion, and we need it in everyday of our life. And blessed are us that our God was, is, and always will be.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-43390138763826281822014-08-12T21:01:00.000-07:002014-08-13T20:09:29.715-07:00The Relationship Restoration Project – the Creation of Man and Woman<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #444444;">“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’<br /><br />So God created mankind in his own image,<br />in the image of God he created them;<br />male and female he created them.” – Genesis 1:26-27, NIV</span></blockquote><br />In Genesis 1, the creation of mankind is of special significance. First, the creation of mankind took place on the last day of the Creation, after which, God rested with a sense of accomplishment and satisfactory. Second, more significantly, mankind is the only creature that is said to be made in God’s own image. What distinguishes mankind from all other creatures is the image of God, which gives mankind the dominion over all other creatures. However, since God is spirit, He is immaterial and invisible. This implies that it is in human spirit that we will find the image of God, rather than in our physical body or appearance.<br /><br />Further, as I have previously mentioned, the triune God is a relational God, and therefore, to be in God’s likeness must mean that mankind is made to relate, and to relate properly. This is evident by the first job which God assigned the <i>adam</i>. After having given the dominion over plants and animals to the <i>adam</i>, God placed him in Eden, a garden in which abundant natural lives were nurtured. In Genesis 2:15, based on the original use of the Hebrew words, the <i>adam</i> was placed in the Garden of Eden “to serve” and “to guard” her. Dominance was supposed to be practiced in a manner of servitude – for God’s sake. As much as mankind is given the dominion over the rest of the creation, he should know that he is, after all, not God.<br /><br />Up to this point, the <i>adam</i> was alone. The relational God in eternal triune community judged that it is not good for the <i>adam</i> to be alone, and was about to make him a suitable helper. The original Hebrew word in Genesis 2:18 for <i>helper</i> is <i>ezer</i>, and the word in other Old Testament usages is most often used to refer to God (Exodus 18:4, Deuteronomy 33:7, Psalm 33:20, etc.) or help from God (Psalm 20:2, Psalm 89:19, Psalm 121:1-2). Therefore, it is quite unlikely that the helper here is made to subordinate to the <i>adam</i>. Rather, in this context, it is probably better to understand the <i>helper</i> as <i>help from God</i>, who is to be a partner with the <i>adam</i>, and to share life and duty with him.<br /><br />Though God has already had in mind what kind of a helper He was going to make the <i>adam</i>, He let the <i>adam</i> find his helper first from the animals through naming them. I believe that God did this so to make the <i>adam</i> realize that he belongs elsewhere. After this, in Genesis 2:20 <i>Adam</i> finally became the proper name for the <i>adam</i>. This is to distinguish him from the helper who was soon to be made, because the helper would also be an <i>adam</i> – a Hebrew word denotes mankind. This is of significance, because for the triune God, mankind belong in community with creatures of their own kind, more specifically, the ones who also bear the image of God.<br /><br />After the creation of the <i>ishshah</i>, when Adam saw her for the first time, he uttered, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23, NASB). “Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh,” in ancient Hebrew’s understanding, seems to be an expression of a certain kind of relation, namely, kinship relation. In Genesis 29:14 Laban said to Jacob, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” (ESV). In 2 Samuel 5:1 all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh.” In 2 Samuel 19:12 David spoke to the elders of Judah, “You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?”<br /><br /><i>Bone</i> in its original Hebrew usage could also mean <i>substance</i> or <i>self</i>. Thus “you are my bone” may be rendered as “you are of my substance,” which literally means “we are as one and the same.” In addition, attention must be paid to the way the <i>ishshah</i> was created. She was not made of another pile of dust, but she was made out of Adam – a piece of bone or flesh from the side of Adam. This seems to be an imagery signifying the closeness between Adam and the <i>ishshah</i>. And it is for this closeness that the <i>adam</i> “shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become ONE FLESH” (Genesis 2:24, emphasis added); and thus the beginning of a new kinship.<br /><br />In summary, what makes the creation of mankind significant, other than the order the event took place, is that mankind was made in the image of God. Being made in the image of God is the basis of mankind’s special relation with God, which is what sets mankind apart from the rest of the creation, and gives mankind the dominion over other creatures. As a nature of the triune Godhead, in which the three Persons of the same substance share the eternal loving community, He created mankind to have fellowship with their Creator, as well as their fellow image bearers of God. Despite their physical differences, the first man and woman were made to share in an intimate community as one, just like that of the triune community. Before the Fall, mankind related perfectly with their Creator, with each other, and with the rest of the creation, because they were made in God’s likeness.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-64146457776972431702014-08-05T21:30:00.000-07:002014-08-07T22:10:58.474-07:00The Relationship Restoration Project – In the Beginning…When sitting in a conservative Evangelical church, sometime the messages preached can be quite confusing. It sometimes goes like these: “God’s love is unconditional, EXCEPT when ________,” “The Church is the hand and feet of Christ, BUT we want nothing to do with ________,” “Christians are called to love, UNLESS if you are a ________.” I found these self-contradictive messages unsatisfying. They made God seem rather unreliable, as if He is sometimes loving and sometimes not. But God never changes, nor does He lie. If our understanding of the Bible leads us to a flakey God, rather than explain it away, we must reexamine our theology. Through this reexamination, I would like to point out the key element that has been overlooked by the modern Evangelical church, and demonstrate the difference the restoration of this key element could make.<br /><br />---<br /><br />As I began to attend the American church in my home country, I learned the big Evangelical word, <i>community</i>, which is proven to be a magical word even in the Evangelical churches on American soil. If you are a Christian, you must participate in the community, that is, the universal Church of Christ through the local church you attend. There is no doubt about it that Christians belong in fellowship with God and with each other. However, what binds Christians together is not the magical word itself. A genuine Christian community would not exist without proper relations and relationships. To be more specific, the relations that are necessary to the Christian community are that between God and His people, that among His people, and that between His people and their neighbors.<br /><br />Before we became Christians, we are bound by morality, but now that we are children of God, we are no longer under the law. We are now bound by these relations and relationships. This is what distinguishes Christianity from all other religions – Christianity is not about do good and be good, but about having proper relationships with the Maker of the universe, with the universe He created, and with all who share the same relationship with the Maker. It is therefore of first importance that we know who the Maker is.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #444444;">“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” -&nbsp; Gen. 1:1-3, NASB</span></blockquote><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #444444;">“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” - Genesis 1:26-27</span></blockquote><br />In Genesis 1, right from the very first 3 verses of Scripture, we see the three Persons of the triune God at work. God the Father speaks, the Word of God creates, and the Spirit of God proceeds. Further, in Genesis 1:26-27, the <i>Us</i> and the <i>Our</i> once again put the triune nature of God on display. Trinity is of utmost importance to the Christian community, because it is the foundation of any relation and relationship. The triune Godhead – the three Persons in one – is a community bound by a loving relationship.<br /><br />Observing the incarnation of God the Son we learn that, as the Son was sent into the world, the Father trusted the Son fully. The Father never wondered if the Son was going to change His mind, and fail His mission. The Son also trusted the Father fully. The Son never doubted if the Father’s providence was going to come through. In the same way, the Spirit trusted the Father and the Son fully. The Spirit was never worried over if the Father and the Son were going to divorce from each other.<br /><br />This sense of trust and security come from the relationship between the three Persons of the Godhead. In their loving relationship, they know each other fully well and intimately, they love each other, and they are for each other. The kind of relationship the triune God has is what married couples crave for, sports teams hunger for, and corporates die for. The creation of the heavens and the earth is, then, God’s invitation for the creatures to partake in the triune community. That is why relations and relationships are so important to God – because God is relational. And that is also why children of God must participate in His community.<br /><br />Further, in the very beginning of the Bible, God’s relationship with mankind is plainly explained. The book of Genesis was written by Moses in a time when the Hebrews had just gone out from Egypt, a nation which is big on worshipping their Pharaohs as gods. At the same time, most of ancient Israel’s enemies and neighbors worshipped Mother Nature, namely, the rivers, the mountains, the animals and fertility. Therefore, it was of crucial importance that God, through Moses, should make Himself known.<br /><br />What are mankind and Mother Nature? Are they not creatures of God? How humbling it is to know that we would not have existence if God had not created mankind. And what a great love and extensive care it is that God created for us an ecosystem which sustains us ALL – our God is one who “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). Some people like to term this theologically as “common grace.” But from an aerial perspective, it really is the manifestation of God’s relationship with mankind. In addition, we must pay the nature world its due respect, because “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1, NIV). The great nature is God’s handicraft, which "God saw that it was good." It would not be displaying the glory of God without its created/Creator relation with God.<br /><br />Certainly, there is a difference between God’s relationships with mankind in general and those who belong to Him. What marks this difference is not ethnicity or culture, but faith. However, that is a discussion I will leave for later. I understand that by now, many questions may have been stirred up, but please bear with me as we go through this extensive reexamination process.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-14433456580879297082014-07-02T14:18:00.000-07:002014-08-07T22:22:18.655-07:00Christians of Two Worlds“<i>For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.</i>” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV)<br /><br />It was from tv watching that I learned of this simple ritual that Japanese people do before meal. They would clip their hands, and say “i-ta-da-ki-ma-su” before meal. Every time when I have meal with my Japanese friends, I would do it as a friendly gesture, and as a means to connect with them. But I had no idea what it means until recently a Japanese friend explained it to me. “いただきます” means “I gratefully receive.” It is to appreciate the cook for preparing the meal, as well as to appreciate the animals or vegetables for their sacrifice so that we may have food. After learning about the meaning behind it, the ritual now means quite differently to me.<br /><br />This is just one of the examples of how a deeper cultural context and significance could be lost in a cross-cultural communication. And when the cultural context and significance are lost, we adopt the mere behavior without the understanding of it. This contextual and significance loss happens not only between cultures, it may also happen between generations. This, I believe, has a lot to do with the fadeaway of Christianity in some parts of the world. Christianity has become a tradition to them, a part of the culture. And if no one bothers to explore the context and significance behind this tradition, then it is just another tradition that we can live with or without.<br /><br />As we charge those previous generations for their failure to pass down true faith, faithful Christians today are making the same mistake as we interpret the Bible by leaving out the cultural context and significance of the times of the inspired authors. Based on my observation on the Christian life in California (I haven’t been to churches outside of it, so I don’t want generalize all American churches) and the education I’m receiving, I believe what is greatly hindered is the understanding of the group oriented, honor and shame based culture of the biblical times, which is defined by the subtle yet significant relationship that strings the kinsman relations.<br /><br />I’d like to argue that, rightly understood, the Bible is first and foremost about relationships. As God opens up and welcomes His creatures through creation to participate in His triune community, as His creatures constantly break the relationship with Him by committing themselves to adultery, and as the creatures break the relationship with each other by all sorts of immorality – it’s all about relationship, and how to be right in relationship with God and each other. Understood this way, the teachings of the Bible is no longer merely about behaviors, but how to love right, how to be in relationship with God and each other right. Without love, there would be no relationship, and without relationship, relations would be meaningless. That is why in the churches, we find ourselves missing that meaningful connection and relationship with each other even after having one program after another. The programs, the dos and don’ts are the mere imitation of a pattern of behavior, but what is missing is the soul of it.<br /><br />Prove me right or wrong, either way I’d like to present this particularly as a challenge and encouragement to my fellow Asian brothers and sisters. We have a culture that is so much closer to that of the biblical times than the Western individualized culture. This is our advantage. Many churches in Asia are already doing well in this perspective – the group orientation comes naturally to us. But we rarely ponder upon it in a more systematic manner. What is that we are doing right with our culture? How can do we better in terms of the biblical ideal relationship? What, even, does that biblical ideal relationship look like? More implications and applications need to be drawn from the Bible.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-6855240530154444492014-06-13T15:58:00.000-07:002014-06-14T19:08:37.957-07:00Christians, No More “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin.”“Love the sinner, hate the sin,” this is one of those popular catchy things Christians say. I guess most Christians say it as means to demonstrate the Christian love for people, as well as to defend the Christian dogma.<br /><br />However, for starters, which you are probably already aware of – this saying may not be of a Christian origin. This saying is said to be from Mahatma Gandhi’s 1929 autobiography. While some may argue that a good saying is a good saying, regardless of who said it, but that’s probably because they are unaware of the context in which Gandhi says it: “'Hate the sin and not the sinner' is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practised, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.” – Quote unquote directly from Gandhi’s “A Tussle with Power,” Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth.<br /><br />Another context where this saying may be derived from is Augustine’s Letter 211 (c. 424), in which Augustine says, “For this reason, the man who lives by God’s standards and not by man’s, must needs be a lover of the good, and it follows that he must hate what is evil. Further, since no one is evil by nature, but anyone who is evil is evil because of a perversion of nature, the man who lives by God’s standards has a duty of ‘perfect hatred’ (Psalms 139:22) towards those who are evil; that is to say, he should not hate the person because of the fault, nor should he love the fault because of the person. He should hate the fault, but love the man. And when the fault has been cured there will remain only what he ought to love, nothing that he should hate” (Bettenson 2003).<br /><br />At the surface level, we may easily come to the conclusion that “Love the sinner, hate the sin” is the sum of Augustine’s writing, but which is not true. The original Latin words that Augustine used for “He should hate the fault, but love the man” is “Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum,” which roughly means, “With love for mankind and hatred of sins.” Despite the possible debate over the theological view on original sin that may arise out of this part of Augustine’s writing, coming from a wild lifestyle, Augustine’s personal experience must have given him some insight into his choice of words. His choice of words reflects how he perceived people who sins.<br /><br />Most Christians believe that they are being loving when they say, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” But the hearer may actually feel quite the opposite: “When you say ‘love the sinner,’ who are you referring to as the sinner?” “So, are you saying that I’m the only one here who sins, and that you don’t?” “Are you saying that I’m the one who needs to be ‘fixed,’ but not you?”<br /><br />So what exactly are the problems with “Love the sinner, hate the sin?” First, go about calling people sinner is dehumanizing. It’s a way of saying that “I don’t see you as a person created in the image of God, and with a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. You are but a sinner to me.” Second, it’s proud. You falsely believed that just because you are a Christian, so you are immune from sinning. Yes, we are justified by Grace, and thus are perfect in God’s eye. And that’s my point exactly – the righteousness that you have is from Christ, and not from you or your outstanding virtue. Finally, this saying is not even biblical. Based particularly on Christ’s teaching in Matthew 7 on judging, the saying should more precisely be, “Love the sinner, hate YOUR OWN sin.”ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-35370415730232496032014-06-04T15:57:00.000-07:002014-06-05T22:33:57.196-07:00The 4 Aspects of LoveOne semester, the Vice Provost of Biola, Dr. Pike, came and gave a speech in our international student fellowship. She shared that at her father’s deathbed, one thing that brought her comfort was what her father said to her – “I have always loved you the way God loved the world.” It was so deep that I could not understand it at when. How do you love someone the way God loved the world? Why is that comforting? And what does it even mean?<br /><br />For those who, like me, became Christians later in our lives, sometimes it’s hard for us to grasp the meaning of "love." We are so trained and conformed to what the movies, tv shows and pop music have taught us about love. Love, according to Hollywood for example, is the instances of romantic feeling – love is those moments when you trigger my animal instincts, and love is gone when those feelings are gone. Love in this sense is self-serving, using and momentary. This misconception of love may have contributed greatly to the high percentage of divorce rate in the US. However, this is not to say that it is wrong for us to feel romantically attracted to someone, but the cruel reality is that romantic feeling fades. Without love, what is left of a relationship? In addition, love in this sense is way too limiting – love is something that’s broader than romantic relationship.<br /><br /><u>The 1 Corinthians 13 Love</u><br />Based on my experience, and from what I have learned from the Bible so far, it seems that no matter who the recipient of our love is – whether that is a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, children or even a stranger – there is only one kind of love for all of them. According to the Bible, that one kind of love is as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”<br /><br />The “1 Corinthians 13 love” really is the only kind of love that is prescribed in the Bible. If you wanna love your friends right, love with the 1 Corinthians 13 love; if you wanna love your boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse right, love with the 1 Corinthians 13 love; if you wanna love your children right, love with the 1 Corinthians 13 love; and to love a stranger right, you love with the 1 Corinthians 13 love. And when you love right, your love should reflect that of God, because God is love (1 John 4:8).<br /><br /><u>Commitment</u><br />As observed from the Bible, the love of God is, first and foremost, a commitment. In this relationship between God and Man, God is the initiator of the commitment. He is committed to mankind in a way that when those who belongs to Him are lost, He chases after them, and brings them home; and for those that do not love Him back, He still blesses them by causing His sun to rise and by sending rain on them (Matthew 5:45). His patience for mankind is immeasurable. He called, and He waited, and centuries after centuries, He is still waiting for our hearts to return to Him. In the story of Hosea, when Hosea went and brought his adulterous wife home, even after her beauty is no more, it really is the illustration of God’s commitment to His people.<br /><br />Commitment is the key to love – this is not only a biblical fact, but also a psychological fact. Based on a research on the divorce rates between arranged marriage and so-called love marriage, the researchers came to the conclusion that it is not romantic feeling but commitment which is the key to long lasting marriage.<br /><br />Therefore, it is to my belief that although there is only one kind of love, there are different commitments to different objects. To a stranger, it should be a commitment to be the Good Samaritan. To a friend, it should be a commitment of companionship, self-giving, and to ask for nothing in return. To a child, it should be a commitment of protection, guidance, and togetherness. To a spouse, it should be a commitment “to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.” In a marriage, without commitment, this vow would mean nothing.<br /><br /><u>Compassion</u><br />A love that reflects the love of God is inseparable of compassion. In the Old Testament, many times God either speaks of or is spoken of as being compassionate. When giving the civil law, God commands that when lending money to people in need, the lender must not take the debtor’s cloak as a pledge, for it may be the only covering he has to sleep in. God says, “When he [the debtor] cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate” (Exodus 22:27).<br /><br />In the New Testament, compassion is one of the most prominent characters of Jesus’ ministry. Without compassion, we would not have the incarnate Son of God on earth. The incarnation of Jesus is exactly what compassion is – it is through the man aspect of Jesus that the God-man identified with us, and carried all our sins in our place. Compassion is the ability to feel what others feel, and meet them where they are. Love without compassion may easily become the self-centered, egocentric and self-righteous love – a love that is only to make yourself feel good about yourself, and to say to yourself that “the Bible commands me to love, so I have been loving. See how loving I am!”<br /><br /><u>Love the Lord your God, and Love Your Neighbor as Yourself</u><br />Without love – the right kind of love as described above, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, the tongues would only be resounding gong or clanging cymbal; any teachings, even the most accurate interpretation of the Bible and the soundest theology, would be nothing; all the sacrifice and self-giving would not benefit us in any way. That is why when asked about the hierarchy of the commandments, Jesus replied, “The most important one is this: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).<br /><br />Love must take precedence over the fulfillment of any commandments, and the love for God must take precedence over the love for Man. Without the love for God, we may not have relationship with God and know God, and thus may not love right. And without the love for Man, the fellow image bearers of God, we do not really love God. Finally, without the love for Man, we really can’t properly fulfill any commandment of God.<br /><br />Love really is a difficult lesson to learn. It’s taking me years to learn to love and be loved right. I’m still learning, I’m still making mistakes, I may still hurt people, and I may still get hurt by people. But it is my belief that Christians of all people are called to love. If you are a Calvinist, you are a Christian; if you are an Arminian, you are a Christian; if you are a dispensational premillennialist, you are a Christian; if you are an overly optimistic postmillennialist, you are a Christian; even if you are not an “ist” of any theological view, you are still a Christian; but without love, you cease to be a Christian. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-12456437986860906072014-04-18T15:00:00.000-07:002014-04-18T15:00:13.321-07:00Apathetic Jesus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hPltqP444VU/U1GfN0zg62I/AAAAAAAAAC4/M7Ro49xTrkA/s1600/research_presentation_pictures_apathy01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hPltqP444VU/U1GfN0zg62I/AAAAAAAAAC4/M7Ro49xTrkA/s1600/research_presentation_pictures_apathy01.jpg" height="512" width="640" /></a></div><br />“They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. ” (Mark 15:27-32)<br /><br />At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “<i>*beep* your sins, I'm going home......</i>” (which, we all know, did NOT happen)<br /><br />The definition of apathy is loss of interest in what was the source of happiness and gratification. As a friend of mine jokingly pointed out, “Good Friday is good for us, but probably not so good for Jesus.” Thank God that His son was nailed to the cross, thank God that our Christ is not apathetic, thank Christ that our salvation is His happiness and gratification, and thank Christ that His crucifixion saves not only those who follows Him, but also those who mocks Him – long as they are willing to receive His grace.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-43237468299718356172014-04-16T18:04:00.000-07:002014-04-17T00:47:09.434-07:00As We Talk About What’s Not Talked AboutA friend of mine worked for a Christian company. She was experienced, but because it was a startup company, she agreed to start with a lower salary. The company relied heavily on her expertise, and she worked hard. But when it was time to renegotiate the salary, her supervisor avoided it. The supervisor’s reasoning was that he’s being a good steward of God by helping his Christian boss save money on HR expenses. My friend then left the company, and the company ran out of business not long after. She wasn’t the reason why the company ran out of business, but her experience at the company shows a theme of problematic theological understanding. What her supervisor failed to see was that people, like equipment and properties, are valuable assets of the company.<br /><br />I have recently read an <a href="http://www.thetwocities.com/culture/homosexuality-does-jesus-even-care/" target="_blank">article</a> that talks about what, according to the gospels, Jesus did and did not talk about during his earthly ministry, and did or did not Jesus really care about the things that He did not talk about. Well, simply put, I believe what Jesus did not explicitly or exhaustively talk about, He summed it up by saying, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18). As well as “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).<br /><br />The greatest fear of the modern day evangelical conservative Christians seems to be that the dos and don’ts – those things Jesus did and did not talk about but implied elsewhere – are not addressed enough, so that people may not be able to see clearly enough of where our line is. We may admire Jesus for eating with sinners, we may even displace ourselves with the sinners to stress the grace we received from Jesus, but when thinking about actually having fellowship with modern day sinners…uh, it’s too dangerous and too scary of an idea. Their sins may be contagious, and our lines may be crossed. Let’s just stay where we are, and talk about the dos and don’ts, what Jesus did and did not talk about.<br /><br />Imagine yourself being in the time of Jesus, living in the Jewish world, in which your daily activities are regulated by the dos and don’ts based on the Law and teachings of the Rabbis. Even as an illiterate lower class citizen, you comply more or less with these religious and cultural norms. But here comes this Jesus guy who claims to be God’s son. While He seems to know Scripture well, but you are troubled because of how much he associates Himself with those nasty sinners. And surely those sinners are contagious, because they are unclean! Clean and unclean is the most fundamental teaching of the Law. Who in their right mind would want to mingle with the unclean? What’s this Jesus guy doing, if He’s not demon-possessed?<br /><br />As seen in accounts such as “Jesus heals on the Sabbath,” “Lord of the Sabbath” and “Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman”, Jesus’ doing reflects His priority, and His priority reflects how he value human persons. This is not to say that Jesus value human persons more than the Word of God (come on, Jesus is the Word), this is to say that the love for God must consist of the love for people. Too often we talk about the dos and don’ts and the right and wrong as a means to draw the line, to keep sinners away, even to condemn the sinners, and we forgot about how much Jesus our Christ values human persons – the ones created in the image of God. Consequently, we become contributors to others’ pain and misery – the persecuted had become the persecutors – without even realizing it. As we are learning to strike a balance between persisting in the truth and spreading the gospel through unconditional love, please allow me to remind you what ought to be the top priority, the guideline and principle. Once again, the ones we are talking about are real human persons who have feelings just like you and me.ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-13791075705548415982014-03-16T21:48:00.000-07:002014-04-08T20:59:49.955-07:00Read Your Freaking Bible<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--baJJQ_rZsU/U0TCXYliS3I/AAAAAAAAACo/V2jzzeNXGJQ/s1600/IMAG0617_1_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--baJJQ_rZsU/U0TCXYliS3I/AAAAAAAAACo/V2jzzeNXGJQ/s1600/IMAG0617_1_1.jpg" height="365" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Notes I made on my Bible from my personal Bible study.</td></tr></tbody></table><table><tbody><tr align="left"><td>When I just became a Christian 12, 13 years ago, my Catholic friend gave me his precious Catholic Chinese version Bible as a gift. The Bible was precious to him not only because it was blessed personally by a Cardinal he respected, but also because he was saved by the faith that the words of the book transpired. For the fact that the first thing my friend gave me wasn’t a beautiful cross or a statue of Saint Mary but this red cover freaking thick book, it showed me that this book must have some kind of tight connection with this faith that I now professed. Therefore, to know what I got myself into, I must read this book.<br /><br />It took me quite a while to read through the whole book. My friend wasn’t too happy when he found the book in my bathroom. Well, but at that time, it really was the only free time I had doing my business in the bathroom, and I was eager to read through the whole book. My personal reflection on the Bible after reading it for the first time – it was a weird book with weird stories! I was intimidated by the angry God in the Old Testament to a point that I never read the Bible again for a very long time. I wanted nothing to do with that brutal unforgiving God. I wanted a god who would just listen to my prayers and give me everything I prayed for.<br /><br />The second time that I ever picked up the Bible was 5, 6 years later. I didn’t really know the difference between Catholic and Protestant, but I had more “Christian” influence at that time that reconnected me to God. This time it wasn’t only the faith that I wanted to know about, but it was God Himself whom I wanted to get to know. How could my Christian friends be worshiping and praising and loving God the way they did if God was really such a brutal unforgiving God? I must have missed something when I read through the Bible the first time!<br /><br />This time when I picked up the NIV/CUV bilingual Bible that I bought, I didn’t quickly read through it. Since the Old Testament was too hard for me to grasp, I started with the New Testament. I developed the habit of looking up online for information whenever I encountered verses that I could not understand, which was, actually, quite a lot of the verses. Especially for books like Romans, First and Second Corinthians, Ephesians...etc., who the hell knew what the author was talking about!!! (I didn’t know they were written by Paul at that time.) But I took my time to do the researches.<br /><br />During this time, I discovered a few websites with good commentaries on the entire Bible. Since there were so many websites that talked about the Bible, and any John Doe could blog his opinion on the Bible, how did I know which websites were more accurate than the others? Well, other than looking up for information online, I also developed the habit of careful examination of the information I found online by checking them against the scripture itself and its broader context. It was, to be honest, quite a lot of work. I did all these when I worked full-time as website programmer. The only time that I could use to do all these was the few hours before going to bed, but I felt that it was a natural thing to do to be a responsible Christian.<br /><br />From my personal Bible study and researches, I began to see more clearly of who God really is. He is loving and merciful, but at the same time, He despises sin, and He just isn’t the Santa Claus god that I envisioned Him to be. He is eager to be in relationship with His children, and we the Christians are His children! I began to know a little better of God’s heart, and with this knowledge my relationship with God began to grow. I miss that period of time in my life, when I was simply immersed in the knowledge of God with the words of the Bible. Christians and their Bible – that’s what I thought it must be for Christians.<br /><br />That’s why I was so shocked when I realized that so MANY people who claim to be Christians don’t take the Bible seriously. Some of them don’t even read the Bible. And for the few that read the Bible, they rely SOLELY on their Pastors, Sunday school teachers, and Bible study leaders to tell them what to believe or do without using their own brains. Just having a Bible in your living room won’t help you know God. The Bible is NOT an ultimate spell manual, reading through it without understanding won’t help you grow spiritually. If you rely solely on the teaching of your leaders without your own discernment, how do you own your faith, and how could you tell if these people are telling you the truth?<br /><br />How could you say that you love God, but refuse to take the step to get to know Him through the words that He wrote you and preserved for you? If you are convinced that evangelism is the responsibility of a Christian, how could you not taking the responsibility to know better of what is that you are sharing about? If you are a Christian, how could the Word not be a part of your life? Don’t just SOUND like a Christian, don’t just TALK all Christian, anyone knows a few Christian catchwords. Be a Christian starting from reading your freaking Bible!</td></tr></tbody></table>ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629808528560853267.post-38197359614187784732014-01-26T23:25:00.000-08:002014-01-26T23:31:08.081-08:00God Hath Not PromisedIn my troubles, I argued with God, “Abraham was able to remain faithful is because you had a conversation with him, in which you clearly promised him what he asked for. But I never have that kind of conversation with you, how do I know if you have promised me anything? How do I trust that my prayers will be answered? How do I know that you give a damn about me?”<br /><br />Today in our worship at church, when we were singing this song, it’s as if God was saying to me, “You asked me what I have promised, let me tell you what I have NOT promised.”<br /><br />There are times when we feel hurt and tired, we stay where we are and cry, and refuse to move on. But I heard God saying gently to me, “Hold my hand, my child. We’ll continue on with the journey when you have cried enough.” Sometimes I may lose faith, but He’ll never lose me.<br /><br /><b>God Hath Not Promised</b><br />God hath not promised skies always blue,<br />Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;<br />God hath not promised sun without rain,<br />Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.<br /><br />But God hath promised strength for the day,<br />Rest for the labor, light for the way,<br />Grace for the trials, help from above,<br />Unfailing sympathy, undying love.<br /><br />God hath not promised we shall not know<br />Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;<br />He hath not told us we shall not bear<br />Many a burden, many a care.<br /><br />God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,<br />Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;<br />Never a mountain, rocky and steep,<br />Never a river, turbid and deep.<br /><object height="360" width="640"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/A8P75mvWH_k?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/A8P75mvWH_k?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>ChallengingFaith.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08333737654284022145noreply@blogger.com0